Lecture 3: Chemistry & Biochemistry I Flashcards
What is Chemistry?
The science that deals with the composition and properties of elementary forms of matter (gas, liquid, solids).
What is Biochemistry?
The chemical and physicochemical processes and substances that occur within living organisms.
What is Matter?
Everything around us that has mass and occupies space.
What are Atoms?
Small particles that make up matter - the ‘Lego bricks’ that make up everything in our universe.
What are Atoms made of?
Electrons, protons and neutrons
What are the ‘Lego bricks’ that make up everything in our universe?
Atoms
What do electrons, protons and neutrons make up?
Atoms
What is the difference between Chemistry and Biochemistry?
Chemistry is concerned with the properties and interactions between elementary forms of matter, gas, liquids, solids. Biochemistry is also concerned with the properties of matter, but only as they relate to living organisms.
What is an element?
An element is the most simple of substances, made up of just one type of atom so it cannot be split into simpler substances.
What is a substance made up of just one type of atom so it cannot be split up into simpler substances?
An element
What is the element H?
Hydrogen
What is the element C?
Carbon
What is the element Ca?
Calcium
What is the element Mg?
Magnesium
What is the chemical symbol for Hydrogen?
H
What is the chemical symbol for Carbon?
C
What is the chemical symbol for Calcium?
Ca
What is the chemical symbol for Magnesium?
Mg
There is a finite number of different types of _________ from which we can build things.
Atoms
What is the Periodic Table?
The Periodic Table is a list of all the currently known elements, arranged in columns and rows that show us which elements share similar reactivity and physical properties.
What is Hydrogen?
A natural gas, the most abundant chemical element estimated to contribute to 75% of the universe.
What is Calcium?
An alkaline Earth metal, it forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air.
How many elements are normally present in the human body?
26
What are the 4 major elements found in the human body?
Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen
What percent of the human body do carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen account for?
96%
What is Fe?
Iron
What is the element abbreviation of iron?
Fe
What is a Fe deficiency?
An iron deficiency
Every element is made up of _________.
Atoms
Each atom is made up of ______________.
Subatomic particles - protons, neutrons and electrons
Every element is made up of ________. Each atom is made up of subatomic particles called protons, neutrons and __________.
Atoms
Electrons.
What is a subatomic particle?
They make up atoms, consisting of protons, neutrons and electrons.
What is an electron?
A small particle with a negative charge that is found in all atoms.
What is a proton?
A small, positively charged particle of matter found in the atoms of all elements.
What is a neutron?
An uncharged subatomic particle that is present in all known atomic nuclei except the hydrogen nucleus
What do protons and neutrons together form?
The nucleus of an atom
What forms the nucleus of an atom?
Protons and neutrons
Do protons have a positive or negative charge?
Positive
Protons have a positive charge and a mass of approximately how many atomic units?
1
What charge do neutrons have?
None
Neutrons have no charge and a mass of approximately how many atomic units?
1
Do electrons have a positive or negative charge?
Negative
Electrons ‘buzz’ around the outside of what?
The atoms nucleus
What do electrons ‘buzzing’ around the outside of the nucleus create?
Electron cloud
How much mass do electrons have?
Virtually none
What are negatively charged particles that ‘buzz’ around the outside of a nucleus creating an electron cloud?
Electrons
What creates an electron cloud?
The electrons ‘buzzing’ around the outside of the nucleus.
What does ‘electron’ mean in Latin?
Electric
What does ‘neutron’ mean in Latin?
Neutral
An element will have an equal number of electrons and protons giving an overall neutral charge to what?
The atom
An element has an equal number of what?
Electrons and protons
What charge do electrons carry?
Negative
Why do atoms have a neutral charge?
Because they have an equal number of electrons and protons.
Electrons move in groups around the nucleus, known as what?
Electron shells
What are electron shells?
Electrons that move around the nucleus in groups
What do electrons do within their shells?
Pair up
When does an atom become reactive?
If it’s outer shell isn’t full or it loses an electron
What happened to an atom if it’s outer shell isn’t full or if it loses an electron?
It becomes reactive
In free radicals electrons become what?
Unpaired
What is a free radical?
A type of unstable molecule that is made during normal cell metabolism (chemical changes that take place in a cell). Free radicals can build up in cells and cause damage to other molecules, such as DNA, lipids, and proteins. This damage may increase the risk of cancer and other diseases.
In the ‘atoms are like families’ analogy, each ________ is an adult with one child (an electron).
Proton
In the ‘atoms are like families’ analogy, each ________ is an adult with no children.
Neutron
In the ‘atoms are like families’ analogy, how many children (electron) does a proton have?
In the ‘atoms are like families’ analogy where do the adults hang out together?
In the centre, the nucleus
What are all the chemical properties of an atom down to?
It’s number of protons and electrons
What adds weight to the atom without significantly changing how it chemically reacts?
Neutrons
The neutrons just add _________. To the atom; they don’t significantly change how it chemically reacts.
Weight
What does the number tell us that is assigned to each element on the Periodic Table?
It tells us how many protons and therefore, how many electrons each atom has.
What is the larger number assigned to each element on the Periodic Table?
The mass number (weight in atomic units). It tells us how much the atom weighs so it can be used to work out the number of neutrons.
What do electrons weigh?
Almost nothing
What are the four things listed on an element of the Periodic Table?
Atomic number, symbol, name, atomic weight/mass
What do all elements in a column of the Periodic Table do?
React in a similar way
What do all of the elements in the first column of the Periodic Table do?
React with water
All of the elements in column one of the Periodic Table react with water. What happens the lower down the column you go?
The reaction with water becomes more vigorous
What is the ‘halogens’?
A specific column of elements in the Periodic Table that share similar chemical and physical properties
What number column is the ‘halogens’ in the Periodic Table
17
What do all columns in the Periodic Table share?
Similar chemical and physical properties
Why is the ‘halogens’ relevant in nutrition?
Because of Iodine in thyroid health, iodine is required for synthesis of thyroid hormones (T3 & T4).
If other halogens are present in the body e.g. fluoride and chloride what can happen?
They can enter the thyroid preventing the formation of T3 and T4, including hypothyroidism
What two halogens can potentially stop the formation of T3 and T4 in the thyroid?
Fluoride and chloride
Where can fluoride be found?
Toothpaste, tap water and mouth washes
Where can chlorine be found?
Swimming pools and chlorinated washed vegetables
What is the atomic number of an element?
The number of protons
What is the mass number of an element?
Number of protons + number of neutrons
What is the number of neutrons in an element?
Mass number (always bigger): atomic number
The atomic number is the number of __________ in the nucleus of an atom of that element.
Protons
The number of protons is _______ to the number of electrons
Equal
___________ can be found using the atomic weight
Neutrons
To find the number of __________, simply subtract the atomic number from the atomic weight
Neutrons
17
Cl
Chlorine
35.453
What are the subatomic particles?
Chlorine has an atomic number of 17, an atomic mass of 35.45, meaning that an atom of chlorine consists of 17 protons, 17 electrons, and 18 neutrons.
26
Fe
Iron
55.845
What are the subatomic particles?
55.845 atomic mass units, Protons 26, Neutrons 30, Electrons 26
19
K
Potassium
39.0983
What are the subatomic particles?
Protons; 19
Neutrons; 20
Electrons; 19
What are isotopes?
Atoms of the same element which have a different number of neutrons in the nucleus
In nature there are often different versions of the same atom called ________.
Isotopes
Isotopes do not affect the chemical activity of the _____ as neutrons have no charge, but it does change the mass.
Atom
Some (but not all) _________ have such an imbalance of protons (parents) and neutrons in their nucleus that it causes the atom (family) to become unstable.
Isotopes
What is the cause of radioactivity?
An imbalance of of protons and neutrons in the isotopes nucleus that it causes the atom to become unstable
What is a PET scan? And what is often injected into the body?
An imaging technique used in allopathic medicine. Radioactive isotopes are introduced (often injected) into the body.
Some diagnostic techniques in medicine use radioactive tracers which emit ______ rays from within the body.
Gamma
__________ uses the gamma rays from radioactive isotopes to target rapidly divinising cells. However, this is also highly damaging to healthy tissues.
Radiotherapy
How does radiotherapy work?
It uses gamma rays from radioactive isotopes to target rapidly dividing cells. However, this is also highly damaging to healthy tissues.
What does the breath test for H. Pylori use?
Urea labelled with either radioactive carbon-14 or non radioactive carbon-13.
In the subsequent 10-30 minutes after a H.pylori test the detection of isotope-labelled ___________ in exhaled breath indicates that the urea is split.
Carbon dioxide
What is the enzyme that H.pylori uses to metabolise urea?
Urease
What does it mean if urease is present in the stomach?
H.pylori is present
How do you test for H.pylori?
A breath test.
Uses urea levelled with either radioactive carbon-14 or non radioactive carbon-13.
How long does it take for a H.pylori breath test to detect isotope-labelled carbon dioxide in exhaled breath?
10-30 mins
What are the certain numbers electrons like to ‘hang out’ in?
2, 8, 8, 8
The optimum number of electrons in a shell is a known number, what is it?
2, 8, 8, 8
How many electrons does the first electron shell have?
2
What do electrons always want to be in?
Pairs
All of the reactions that happen in chemistry are driven by _______ trying to end up with a stable and full outer shell either by stealing, giving away, or sharing electrons
Atoms
What does hydrogen contain?
One proton, one electron, no neutrons
What is hydrogen referred to in its H+ form?
A proton
What is a Subatomic Particle?
Each atom is made up of subatomic particles called protons, neutrons and electrons (atoms make up elements).
What charge do protons have?
Positive
Protons have a positive charge and a mass of approximately how many atomic units?
1
What charge do neutrons have?
No charge
