What are carbon atoms?
carbon atoms are the basis of most molecules that make up living things
What unique bonding properties does carbon atoms have?
they can pair up to four unpaired electrons in its outer energy level
What three basic structures does carbon-based molecules have?
straight chains, branched chains, and rings
What is a monomer?
a sub-unit in a complete molecule
What is a a polymer?
a large molecule made up of many monomers bonded together
What is another word for a molecule?
a macromolecule
What is a carbohydrate?
molecules composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen (include sugar and starches)
What is the most basic carbohydrate?
simple sugars
What is another word for simple sugars?
monosaccharides
How many carbon atoms do most simple sugars have?
five or six
What is glucose?
a sugar made by plants during photosynthesis
What are polysaccharides?
polymers of monosaccharides
What can glucose molecules be linked to make?
polysaccharide
What are three examples of polysaccharides?
starches, glycogen, and cellulose
What are starches made from?
plants
What can starches be broken down to?
energy for plant and animal cells
Where is glycogen made from?
animals
What does cellulose do for the cell?
it makes up the cell wall that covers plant cells
What are lipids?
nonpolar molecules that include fats, oils, and cholesterol
What do lipids contain, like most carbohydrates?
chairs of carbon atoms bonded to oxygen and hydrogen atoms
What can lipids be broken down to?
energy for cells
What else do lipids do for cells?
they are also part of a cell's structure.
What makes fats and oils similar?
they both have a molecule called glycerol bonded to molecules called fatty acids
What are fatty acids?
are chains of carbon atoms bonded to hydrogen atoms.
What is the name of the three fatty acids bonded to glycerol found in many lipids?
trigltcerides
What does having saturated fats mean?
it means that that they have the maximum numbers of hydrogen atoms possible and are single bonds
What does having unsaturated fats mean?
it means they have is at least one double bond between carbon atoms and they it is not saturated with hydrogen
What does having double bonds do to unsaturated fat?
it makes it so it cannot have molecules packed tightly enough to form a solid
What is the name of the lipid that most cell membranes are made up?
phospholipid
What do all phospholipids contain?
glycerol, two fatty acids, and a phosphate group that is part of the polar head of the molecules
What structure does a triglyceride have?
it has three fatty acids adn a molecule of glycerol, but no phosphate group
What is cholesterol?
is a lipid that has a ring structure
What is a protein?
a polymer made of monomers called amino acids
What are amino acids?
molecules that contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sometimes sulfur
How many amino acids do organisms use to make proteins?
20
How many amino acids can humans make?
12
What three parts are the same in all amino acid?
a hydrogen atom, an amino group, and a carboxyl group.
What is the name of the covalent bonds that amino acids form with each other?
peptide bonds
What chains are amino acids linked to through peptide bonds?
polypeptides
What is a protein made up of?
one or more polypeptides
What two types of interactions between side groups of amino acid are important to protein structure?
some side contain sulfur atoms and hydrogen bonds can form between the side groups of some amino acids which causes the protein to fold into a specific shape
What do sulfur atoms do to the structure of protein?
it forms a covalent bond that forces protein to bend into a certain shape.
What are nucelic acids?
polymers that made up of monomers called nucleotides
What is a nucleotide composed of?
sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogen-containg molecules called a base
What are the names of the 2 types of nucleic acids?
DNA and RNA
What do nucleic acids do?
work together to make proteins
What does DNA do?
stores info for putting amino acids together to make proteins
What does the RNA do?
helps build proteins