Biochemistry___Lesson-1___Chapter 2.1 and 2.3

Question 1

What is anything that occupies space and has mass?

Answer 1

Matter

Question 2

What is a substance that cannot be broken down into other substances by ordinary chemical means?

Answer 2

Element

Question 3

What is a substance that consists of two or more different elements combined in a fixed ratio?

Answer 3

Compound

Question 4

What are the 4 most abundant elements in the human body?

Answer 4

H-(hydrogen)___C-(carbon)___N-(Nitrogen)___O-(oxygen)

Question 5

What are elements required for life but only in tiny amounts?

Answer 5

Trace elements

Question 6

What is a new property that arises when parts are combined into new structures?

Answer 6

Emergent Property

Question 7

What is the emergent property of table salt?

Answer 7

Pure sodium (Na) is a metal, and pure chlorine (Cl) is a poisonous gas, but the compound NaCl (table salt) is a food, and thus being edible is a property that emerged in the compound that is not present in the individual elements.

Question 8

What is the emergent property of water?

Answer 8

Pure hydrogen (H2) is a gas and so is pure Oxygen (O2), but the compound H2O (water) is a liquid, and thus being liquid is a property that emerged in the compound that is not present in the individual elements.

Question 9

What is the smallest unit of matter that retains the properties of an element?

Answer 9

Atom

Question 10

What is the subatomic particle with a positive charge?

Answer 10

Proton

Question 11

What is the subatomic particle with a negative charge, and very little mass?

Answer 11

Electron

Question 12

What is a subatomic particle with no charge?

Answer 12

Neutron

Question 13

What part of the atom contains the protons and neutrons and most of the mass, but very little volume?

Answer 13

Nucleus

Question 14

What indicates the number of protons of an atom, and also the identify of the atom?

Answer 14

Atomic number

Question 15

What indicates the number of protons and neutrons of an atom?

Answer 15

Mass number

Question 16

What indicates the weight of an atom (protons+neutrons+electrons) and on the periodic table is the average of all isotopes of that atom?

Answer 16

Atomic mass

Question 17

What are different types of atoms of the same element with the same number of protons and elections and behave the same in chemical reactions, but have a different number of neutrons?

Answer 17

Isotopes

Question 18

What type of atom has a nucleus that spontaneously decays, as a neutron gives off particles and energy until it is converted into a proton, thus changing the identity of the atom?

Answer 18

Radioactive isotope

Question 19

Draw the atomic structure of H.

Answer 19

Question 20

Draw the atomic structure of O.

Answer 20

Question 21

Draw the atomic structure of N.

Answer 21

Question 22

Draw the atomic structure of C.

Answer 22

Question 23

What are the 3 states of matter that are important to biology?

Answer 23

Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass, and in biology it can be found in the states of gas, liquid, or solid. For example, water is very important to biology, and it can be found in the environment as a gas, liquid, or solid.

Question 24

The atomic number of carbon is 6. What does this number refer to? Calculate the number of electrons. If the number of neutrons in this element is 6, what is the mass number of this element?

Answer 24

The atomic number is the number of protons. Electrons = 6. Mass number = 12

Question 25

Why is water, not an element?

Answer 25

An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into another substance by ordinary chemical means, but water can be broken down into other substances: hydrogen and oxygen.

Question 26

For humans, how many elements are essential for life?

Answer 26

There are 25 because if any one of these is missing, then you die.

Question 27

What four elements make up 96% of the weight of living organisms?

Answer 27

H. O. N. C.

Question 28

What do we call an element that is essential, but only required in small quantities?

Answer 28

An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into another substance by ordinary chemical means, and it is essential if it is required for life, regardless of how much is needed, however, if only small amounts are needed for life, then it is a trace element, such as iron.

Question 29

Why is water a compound?

Answer 29

A compound is a substance consisting of two or more different elements combined in a fixed ratio. Water is a compound because it consists of two different elements (Hydrogen and Oxygen), and they are combined in a fixed ratio of 2 Hydrogen : 1 Oxygen.

Question 30

Glucose is a common sugar that we eat that is made of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O). We breathe out Carbon dioxide, which is made of carbon (C) and oxygen (O). What experiment could be done, using isotopes, to determine if the Carbon we breathe out is the same Carbon we eat?

Answer 30

Isotopes are atoms with the same number of protons, and thus react the same in chemical reactions, but differ in their number of neutrons. Some isotopes, such as Carbon-14, are radioactive. This is useful to science because although Carbon is too small to see, we can detect radiation. We could do an experiment in which we feed glucose made of Carbon-14 to mice and the next day analyze their breath for the presence of radiation.

Question 31

If a neutron of Carbon-14 decays into a proton, then what atom will radioactive carbon-14 become?

Answer 31

If one of the neutrons of Carbon-14 decays into a proton, then the resulting atom would have 7 protons and would thus become Nitrogen because all atoms with 7 protons are Nitrogen.

Question 32

Explain the emergent property of table salt.

Answer 32

An emergent property is a property not found in any of its individual components. Table salt is sodium chloride (NaCl) and can be broken into its elements of sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl). NaCl is edible, but Na alone or Cl alone are not edible, and thus being edible is an emergent property because it is a property that is not found in Na or Cl.

The reason that the property of being edible emerged is the same for all emergent properties, which is that the parts have become arranged into a new structure and thus they have a new function. Just as the shape of a bike gives it the function of transporting you across town, the shape of NaCl gives it the function of being edible.

Question 33

Describe the structure of a carbon atom.

Answer 33

A carbon atom has 6 protons (positive) and 6 neutrons (no charge) in its nucleus and thus has an atomic number of 6 (number of protons) and a mass number of 12 (protons + neutrons). Carbon also has 6 electrons (negative) that exist as a cloud surrounding the nucleus and is thus neutral (6 protons and 6 electrons). All carbon atoms have 6 protons, but the number of neutrons can vary to make isotopes of carbon. Some isotopes are radioactive.