Question

which contains phosphorus and nitrogen atoms, is polar and dissolves in water. substances that mix with water are called hydrophilic, or water - loving. the fatty acid tails are nonpolar. nonpolar molecules do not mix with water. so the nonpolar tails in a phospholipid are hydrophobic, or water - fearing. molecules that have both a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic region are called amphipathic. the model shows a simplified representation of a phospholipid and its chemical structure. (the simplified representation does not show glycerol.) phosphate group (head) fatty acids (tails) glycerol (backbone) chemical structure complete the sentence. a phospholipid is amphipathic because its phosphate head is dropdown and dropdown, while its fatty acid tails are dropdown and dropdown.

Explanation:

1. From the text: "which contains phosphorus and nitrogen atoms, is polar and dissolves in water. Substances that mix with water are called hydrophilic, or water - loving." So the phosphate head (which has P and N) is polar and hydrophilic.
2. From the text: "The fatty acid tails are nonpolar. Nonpolar molecules do not mix with water. So the nonpolar tails in a phospholipid are hydrophobic, or water - fearing." So the fatty acid tails are nonpolar and hydrophobic.

Answer:

A phospholipid is amphipathic because its phosphate head is \(\boldsymbol{\text{polar}}\) and \(\boldsymbol{\text{hydrophilic}}\), while its fatty acid tails are \(\boldsymbol{\text{nonpolar}}\) and \(\boldsymbol{\text{hydrophobic}}\).