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Which property of water helps keep body temperature stabilized?

A) Low heat capacity
B) High thermal conductivity
C) High specific heat
D) Low boiling point

User Moia
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Final answer:

Water has a high specific heat, which allows it to absorb or release a large amount of heat with little change in temperature, playing a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis and body temperature regulation by acting as a buffer against temperature changes.

Step-by-step explanation:

The property of water that helps keep body temperature stabilized is its high specific heat. This means that water can absorb or release a significant amount of heat without undergoing a major change in temperature. Specific heat is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise the temperature by one degree Celsius. Because of this, water is an efficient heat-absorbing and heat-distributing medium. This property is vital for maintaining homeostasis in the body, ensuring that our internal temperature remains relatively constant despite external temperature changes.

Water's high heat capacity is largely due to the hydrogen bonding among water molecules, requiring more energy to break these bonds. This explains why environments near large bodies of water have more moderate temperatures and why warm-blooded animals use water to regulate their body temperature. As a result, water acts as a buffer against rapid temperature fluctuations.

In biology, understanding water's ability to maintain temperature is important for understanding thermal regulation and homeostasis in organisms. The correct answer to the question is C) High specific heat.

User Jason Pearce
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