Which process uses water to break chemical bonds?

• A. Osmosis
• B. Condensation
• C. Polymerization
• D. Hydrolysis

Answer: (D)

Hydrolysis is the process that uses water to break chemical bonds. In hydrolysis, a water molecule is added to a bond, splitting the molecule into two parts. The hydrogen from water attaches to one fragment and the hydroxyl group attaches to the other, effectively cleaving the bond. This is exactly how disaccharides like sucrose are split into glucose and fructose during digestion, and how peptide bonds in proteins can be broken to yield amino acids.

By contrast, osmosis involves water moving across a membrane due to concentration differences, not breaking bonds. Condensation (dehydration synthesis) forms bonds by removing water, not breaking them. Polymerization refers to assembling monomers into polymers, often through bonding rather than bond cleavage.