Biology Study Guide Essay

Hydrocarbons are hydrophobic. They also provide energy in the forms of things such as fossil fuels and fats.

Unsaturated fats have double bonds in the carbon chains of their fatty acids.

ATP releases energy during a hydrolysis reaction that removes a phosphate group.

ATP stores the potential to react with water, thereby removing a phosphate group and releasing energy for cellular processes.

There are 92 naturally occurring elements. 25 of them are essential to life.

Reductionism seeks to reduce complex systems to simpler, more manageable components.

Systems biology seeks to understand how all the parts function together.

When the proton number and the electron number are unequal, the atom or molecule is an ion.

The carbon atom is tetravalent; this means that a carbon atom can complete its valence shell by forming 4 covalent bonds.

The reactivity of an atom arises from the existence of unpaired electrons in the valence shell.

Polar covalent bonds share electrons unequally, so that one part of the molecule has a partial negative region and one part a partial positive region.

A polar covalent bond is a bond that has shared electrons pulled closer to the more electronegative atom.

Emergence is not restricted to biological systems.

Examples of emergence include the following: bees making a beehive, a calculator, an organ, and water’s high specific heat.

As seawater becomes more acidic, carbonate ion concentrations decreases. The decrease in the availability of carbonate ion makes it more difficult for marine organisms to secrete calcium carbonate shells.

Radioactive isotopes are useful in scientific research because they are detectable in very small amounts, a few labeled molecules can be traced through an organism’s body to see how they are used.

-NH2 is the amino group and is present in all amino acids.
The extraordinary qualities of water are emergent properties resulting from hydrogen bonding.

Disaccharides are joined together by glycosidic linkages.

Sucrose, lactose, and maltose are all disaccharides.

The reason that coastal climates are more moderate than inland climates is due to water’s high specific heat.

DNA is the molecule that accounts for both the unity and diversity of life.

The ability of water molecules to form hydrogen bonds with other water molecules and water’s ability to dissolve substances that have charges or partial charges are both caused by water’s partial charges.

Two molecules of water are held together by a hydrogen bond formed between the slight positive charge of the hydrogen and the slight negative charge of the oxygen.

Water is a very versatile solvent, a quality traced to the polarity of the water molecule.

The amino chemical group is responsible for an organic molecule behaving as a base.

Cellulose is a polymer made of many glucose molecules.

All the organisms on your campus make up a community.

A molecule that has all nonpolar covalent bonds would be hydrophobic.

Nonpolar molecules do not have an affinity for water or other polar molecules.

Acetic acid was the first organic molecule synthesized from nothing but inorganic substances.

The chemical characteristics or reactivity of an element depend mostly on

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