Question

Does it take energy input to form a phospholipid bilayer in water? Why or why not?

Answer 1

No, it does not take any energy input to form a phospholipid bilayer in water. There is no requirement of energy because of their property of being two-faced molecules, with hydrophilic phosphate heads and hydrophobic hydrocarbon tails of fatty acids. In water, these molecules spontaneously align in a way such that their heads face outward and their tails line up in the bilayer's interior. Thus, the hydrophilic head in a cell's plasma membrane face both the water-based cytoplasm and the exterior of the cell.

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