1 - The Chemical Basis Of Biology

Question 1

What charge does a PROTON hold?

Answer 1

Positive

Question 2

What charge does a NEUTRON hold?

Answer 2

None (think Neutral)

Question 3

What charge does an ELECTRON hold?

Answer 3

Negative

Question 4

What parts of the atom does each molecule form?

Answer 4

Protons and Neutrons form nucleus, electrons form the outer rings.

Question 5

Are atoms generally +ve, - ve or neutrally charged.

Answer 5

Neutral by having same number of positive and negative particles.

Question 6

What is an atom called when the protons and Neutrons aren’t equal?

Answer 6

Isotope

Question 7

What determines the atomic number?

Answer 7

The number of protons in the nucleus.

Question 8

What are the shells of an atom referred to, and how do we work out the number of electrons each can hold?

Answer 8

1n, 2n, 3n etc

2n²

Question 9

What are VALENCE ELECTRONS?

Answer 9

Electrons found in the outer shell.

Question 10

What do we call it when molecules share valent electrons to join together?

Answer 10

Covalent Bond

Question 11

What is valency?

Answer 11

The number of covalent bonds that a molecule needs to become stable.

Question 12

What is the OCTET RULE?

Answer 12

Most of the cells in biology need 8 electrons in the valence shell (outer shell) to become stable.

Question 13

What happens to the bond in the nucleus as atomic number increases?

Answer 13

Becomes stronger and more energy is required to take electrons.

Question 14

What do molecules combine to form?

Answer 14

Chemical compounds.

Question 15

What type of bond commonly creates inorganic substances?

Answer 15

Ionic Bond. Uses the charge.

Question 16

What is the generic term for ionic and covalent bonds?

Answer 16

Intra-molecular forces

Question 17

What causes a Covalent bond?

Answer 17

Two atoms sharing a pair of electrons to make a more stable outer shell in each.

Question 18

What is a Lewis Structure?

Answer 18

An illustration which valence electrons are represented by dots to build molecules.

Question 19

What are Van Der Walls forces?

Answer 19

Short range, weak attractions and repulsions caused by random fluctuations of the electric charges on molecules.

Question 20

What are Dipole-Dipole Forces?

Answer 20

A molecular dipole is caused by the uneven distribution of positive
and negative charge among the atoms in a molecule.

Question 21

What are Hydrophobic Forces

Answer 21

A molecular dipole is caused by the uneven distribution of positive
and negative charge among the atoms in a molecule

Question 22

Which element is the basis of all life on Earth?

Answer 22

Carbon.

Question 23

Why is carbon so common in forming organic molecules?

Answer 23

It is ideally suited to inclusion in a huge range of covalent compounds.

(i) it readily
forms covalent, rather than ionic, bonds; and (ii) it can form covalent bonds with elements on
either side of it in the periodic table

Question 24

What are functional groups?

Answer 24

very simplified way to think about organic chemistry is that it involves big molecules made
out of carbon chains with extra bits stuck on them that do different things. More formally,
these ‘extra bits’ are called functional groups .

Question 25

What makes up the building blocks of life?

Answer 25

Carbon chains and ‘functional

groups’ make up the building blocks of life .

Question 26

What are the 7 important functional groups?

Answer 26

Hydroxyl
Carbonyl
Carboxyl
Amino
Thiol
Phosphate
Aldehyde

Question 27

Which amino groups are at the start and end of a protein chain?

Answer 27

Proteins always have this amino group at the start (called

Question 28

What are the 4 nucleotide bases?

Answer 28

Adenine (A)
Cytosine (C)
Guanine (G)
Thymine (T)

Question 29

What are the complimentary base pairs?

Answer 29

A-T

C-G