Properties of Carbon
What is carbon?
This element can form four covalent bonds, allowing for diverse organic compounds.
What are macromolecules?
These large molecules are formed by linking many smaller units called monomers.
What is the active site?
This term describes the specific region where an enzyme binds to its substrate.
What is a polar molecule?
Polar molecules have partial charge on specific locations of the molecule. Water's ability to dissolve many substances is due to oxygen's electronegativity.
What are nucleic acids? Explain the parts of a nucleic acid as well.
This macromolecule is primarily responsible for storing genetic information that contains C,H,O,N,P. 5- carbon sugar, nitrogenous base and phosphate group.
What shapes can carbon form?
Carbon can bond to other carbon atoms leads to the formation of chains, rings, or branches.
What are carbohydrates?
This type of macromolecule contains energy and includes sugars and starches. It contains C, H, O.
What is activation energy and what do enzymes have to do with it?
Enzymes speed up chemical reactions by lowering this energy barrier.
What property of water help regulate climate and maintain homeostasis?
Water has a high specific heat, which means it can absorb a lot of heat before changing temperature; this property is important for this reason.
What are the four main biological macromolecules?
The four main types of macromolecules are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids.
What are hydrocarbons?
Carbon compounds that contain only carbon and hydrogen are called this.
What are proteins?
These macromolecules are made up of amino acids and are essential for building proteins in the body that perform all cellular functions/machinery.
How are enzymes made?
Enzymes are made from proteins, which are large chains of amino acids.
What is surface tension?
This property of water allows insects to walk on its surface.
What element has tetravalency? (hint: the ability to make 4 covalent bonds)
Carbon. This property of carbon allows it to form large and complex molecules essential for life.
How does carbon make its chemical bonds?
Carbon makes mostly covalent bonds, by sharing pairs of electrons.
What are nonpolar molecules? Which macromolecules are non-polar?
They are molecules with no attraction to others; they are hydrophobic. Lipids are classified into this category based on their structure, including fats, oils, and steroids.
What is competitive inhibition?
This type of enzyme inhibition occurs when a molecule resembles the substrate and competes for the active site.
What is capillary action?
Water's ability to form hydrogen bonds leads to this phenomenon where it can rise against gravity in plants.
What are enzymes?
Enzymes are a kind of protein biological catalyst/gatekeeper.
What does the R-group in a macromolecule represent? (hint Chapter 2.3)
The R-group represents a chemical group that is different in each amino acid.
Which macromolecule contains genetic information?
Nucleic acids. They together form the DNA - deoxyribonucleic acid sequence. It can get so long in one cell that it is long enough to go around planet Earth!!!
What is denaturation?
Enzymes can be affected by temperature and pH, leading to this process where they lose their functional shape.
What are hydrogen bonds and what two properties of water depend on it?
The cohesive and adhesive properties of water are primarily due to this type of bond.
What is nitrogen?
The four elements that make up 96% of living matter are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and this.