Final answer:
Fat-soluble substances rapidly affect cells due to the cell membrane's amphipathic nature, allowing such substances to dissolve in the hydrophobic lipid core and pass through more easily.
Step-by-step explanation:
The characteristic of cell membranes that explains why fat-soluble substances such as chloroform and ether rapidly affect cells is the amphipathic nature of the membrane, with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions.
Fat-soluble substances easily pass through the hydrophobic lipid core of the membrane because they are nonpolar, and can dissolve in the lipids that make up the core.
This allows these substances to enter cells more readily than polar substances, which have difficulty crossing the nonpolar middle layer of the cell membrane.
The characteristic of cell membranes that explains why fat-soluble substances, such as chloroform and ether, rapidly affect cells is their solubility in the lipid bilayer of the membrane. Cell membranes are amphiphilic, having both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions. Fat-soluble substances can easily pass through the hydrophobic lipid core of the membrane, allowing them to rapidly affect cells.