Final answer:
Phospholipids tend to spontaneously orient themselves into something resembling a membrane because Phospholipids have a polar head and nonpolar tail.
Phospholipids tend to spontaneously orient themselves into something resembling a membrane due to their amphipathic nature. The polar heads of phospholipids are strongly attracted to water molecules, while the nonpolar tails avoid water. As a result, phospholipids form lipid bilayers, where the hydrophobic tails are sandwiched between two layers of hydrophilic heads, creating a barrier that separates different environments. Hence, option C is correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
The amphipathic nature of phospholipids enables them to form uniquely functional structures in aqueous environments. The polar heads of these molecules are strongly attracted to water molecules, and the nonpolar tails are not. Because of their considerable lengths, these tails are, in fact, strongly attracted to one another. As a result, energetically stable, large-scale assemblies of phospholipid molecules are formed in which the hydrophobic tails congregate within enclosed regions, shielded from contact with water by the polar heads.
The simplest of these structures are micelles, spherical assemblies containing a hydrophobic interior of phospholipid tails and an outer surface of polar head groups. Larger and more complex structures are created from lipid-bilayer sheets, or unit membranes, which are large, two-dimensional assemblies of phospholipids congregated tail to tail. The cell membranes of nearly all organisms are made from lipid-bilayer sheets, as are the membranes of many intracellular components. These sheets may also form lipid-bilayer spheres that are the structural basis of vesicles and liposomes, subcellular components that play a role in numerous physiological functions.
This characteristic is vital to the plasma membrane's structure because, in water, phospholipids arrange themselves with their hydrophobic tails facing each other and their hydrophilic heads facing out. In this way, they form a lipid bilayer-a double layered phospholipid barrier that separates the water and other materials on one side from the water and other materials on the other side. Phosopholipids heated in an aqueous solution usually spontaneously form small spheres or droplets (micelles or liposomes), with their hydrophilic heads forming the exterior and their hydrophobic tails on the inside.
Following the rule of "like dissolves like", the hydrophilic head of the phospholipid molecule dissolves readily in water. The long fatty acid chains of a phospholipid are nonpolar, and thus avoid water because of their insolubility. In water, phospholipids spontaneously form a double layer called a lipid bilayer, in which the hydrophobic tails of phospholipid molecules are sandwiched between two layers of hydrophilic heads. In this way, only the heads of the molecules are exposed to the water, while the hydrophobic tails interact only with each other.
Hence, option C is correct answer.