Question

Small , uncharged polar molecules like water and ethanol pass readily across the lipid bilayer. T or F?

Answer 1

True (T)

It is true that small uncharged polar molecules like water and ethanol pass readily across the lipid bilayer.

They follow a phenomenon called passive diffusion- simplest mechanism by which molecules get transported from one side of the membrane to the other. In this particular process of transport no channel protein is involved and the direction of the transport of the molecules are based on their concentrations on either side of the membrane. So, they move from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration.