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How are hydrophobic phospholipid tails arranged in a cell membrane?
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In a cell membrane, the hydrophobic phospholipid tails are arranged to form the interior of a lipid bilayer.12
Because these fatty acid tails are water-repellent, they are driven inward, pointing toward one another and away from the watery environments found both inside and outside the cell. Within this structure, the tails of the molecules in one sheet of the bilayer are turned and loosely bonded to the tails of the molecules in the opposing sheet. This arrangement creates a fluid, sandwich-like structure where the hydrophobic tails mingle in an organic medium, effectively sealing out water and providing a stable, semipermeable barrier for the cell.132