Chapter 2 The

Basic of life

Learning Outcomes
Successful students will be able to: 1.Describe the importance of chemical elements to living organisms 2.Explain the formation of compounds 3.Describe the structure of an atom 4.Distinguish between ionic, hydrogen, and covalent bonds 5.List and define the life-supporting properties of water

Introduction: Who Tends This Garden?

and those of other organisms
They make up the physical environment as well

The ordering of atoms into molecules represents the lowest level of biological organization
Therefore, to understand life, it is important to understand the basic concepts of chemistry

Introduction: Who Tends This Garden?

The Amazonian rain forest is a showcase for the diversity of life on Earth
An example is the lemon ant, which prevents all trees except the lemon ant tree from growing in their gardens
The ants inject a chemical into other trees that kills them The ants live in the hollow stems of the lemon ant tree

ELEMENTS, ATOMS, AND MOLECULES

Living organisms are composed of about 25 chemical elements

Chemicals are at the base level of biological hierarchy They are arranged into higher and higher levels of structural organization
Arrangement eventually leads to formation of living organisms

Living organisms are composed of about 25 chemical elements

Living organisms are composed of matter, which is anything that occupies space and has mass (weight)
Matter is composed of chemical elements
Elementa substance that cannot be broken down to other substances There are 92 elements in natureonly a few exist in a pure state

Life requires 25 essential elements; some are called trace elements

Table : Elements in the Human Body

CONNECTION: Trace elements are common additives to food and water

Some trace elements are required to prevent disease
Without iron, your body cannot transport oxygen An iodine deficiency prevents production of thyroid hormones, resulting in goiter

Figure: Goiter in a Malaysian woman, a symptom of iodine deficiency.

CONNECTION: Trace elements are common additives to food and water

Several chemicals are added to food for a variety of reasons
Help preserve it Make it more nutritious Make it look better

Check out the Nutrition Facts label on foods and drinks you purchase

Figure: Nutrition facts from a fortified cereal

Elements can combine to form compounds

Compounda substance consisting of two or more different elements combined in a fixed ratio
There are many compounds that consist of only two elements
Table salt (sodium chloride or NaCl) is an example Sodium is a metal, and chloride is a poisonous gas However, when chemically combined, an edible compound emerges

 Figure 2.3 The emergent properties of the edible compound sodium chloride. +

Sodium

Chlorine

Sodium Chloride

Figure: The emergent properties of the edible compound sodium chloride.

Elements can combine to form compounds

Many of the compounds in living organisms contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen
DNA, for example, contains all four of these elements

Interestingly, different arrangements of elements provide unique properties for each compound

Atoms consist of protons, neutrons, and electrons

An atom is the smallest unit of matter that still retains the properties of a element
Atoms are made of over a hundred subatomic particles, but only three are important for biological compounds
Protonhas a single positive electrical charge Electronhas a single negative electrical charge Neutronis electrically neutral

Atoms consist of protons, neutrons, and electrons

Elements differ in their number of protons, neutrons, and electrons Helium has two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons Carbon has six protons, six neutrons, and six electrons Atomic number- the number of protons in each atom of a particular element Mass number- the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in an atoms nucleus. Atomic mass- the approximate total mass of a atoms; also called atomic weight. Given as a while number, the atomic mass approximately equals the mass number

Electron cloud

Nucleus
2e

2 2 2

Protons Neutrons Electrons

Mass number = 4

Figure: Two models of a helium atom

Atoms consist of protons, neutrons, and electrons

Although all atoms of an element have the same atomic number, some differ in mass number
The variations are isotopes, which have the same numbers of protons and electrons but different numbers of neutrons
One isotope of carbon has 8 neutrons instead of 6 (written 14C) Unlike 12C, 14C is an unstable (radioactive) isotope that gives off energy

Table: Isotopes of Carbon

CONNECTION: Radioactive isotopes can help or harm us

Living cells cannot distinguish between isotopes of the same element
Therefore, when radioactive compounds are used in metabolic processes, they act as tracers Radioactivity can be detected by instruments

With instruments, the fate of radioactive tracers can be monitored in living organisms

CONNECTION: Radioactive isotopes can help or harm us

Biologists use radioactive tracers in research
Radioactive 14C was used to show the route of 14CO in formation of sugar during plant 2 photosynthesis

CONNECTION: Radioactive isotopes can help or harm us

Radioactive tracers are frequently used in medical diagnosis Sophisticated imaging instruments are used to detect them
An imaging instrument that uses positronemission tomography (PET) detects the location of injected radioactive materials PET is useful for diagnosing heart disorders and cancer and in brain research

Figure: Technician monitoring the output of a PET scanner

Figure: PET images of brains of a healthy person (left) and a person with Alzheimers disease (right). Red and yellow colors indicate high levels of PIB bound to beta-amyloid plaques.

CONNECTION: Radioactive isotopes can help or harm us

In addition to benefits, there are also dangers associated with using radioactive substances
Uncontrolled exposure can cause damage to some molecules in a living cell, especially DNA Chemical bonds are broken by the emitted energy, which causes abnormal bonds to form

Electron arrangement determines the chemical properties of an atom

Only electrons are involved in chemical activity Electrons occur in energy levels called electron shells
Information about the distribution of electrons is found in the periodic table of the elements

Hydrogen First shell

Helium

Figure 2.6 The electron shell diagrams of the Oxygen Lithium Beryllium Carbon Nitrogen Fluorine Boron Neon Secondfirst 18 elements in the periodic table.
shell Sodium Third shell Magnesium Aluminum Silicon
Phosphorus

Sulfur

Chlorine

Argon

Figure : The electron shell diagrams of the first 18 elements in the periodic table.

Electron arrangement determines the chemical properties of an atom

An atom may have one, two, or three electron shells
The number of electrons in the outermost shell determines the chemical properties of the atom The first shell is full with two electrons, whereas the second and third will hold up to eight electrons

Electron arrangement determines the chemical properties of an atom

Atoms want to fill their outer electron shells
To accomplish this, the atom can share, donate, or receive electrons This results in attractions between atoms called chemical bonds

Ionic bonds are attractions between ions of opposite charge

An ion is an atom or molecule with an electrical charge resulting from gain or loss of electrons
When an electron is lost, a positive charge results; when one is gained, a negative charge results

Two ions with opposite charges attract each other

When the attraction holds the ions together, it is called an ionic bond

Transfer of electron

Na Sodium atom

Cl Chlorine atom

Na+ Sodium ion

Cl Chloride ion

Sodium chloride (NaCl)

Figure: Formation of an ionic bond, producing sodium chloride.

Covalent bonds join atoms into molecules through electron sharing

A covalent bond results when atoms share outer-shell electrons
A molecule is formed when atoms are held together by covalent bonds

Table : Alternative Ways to Represent Four Common Molecules.

Unequal electron sharing creates polar molecules

Atoms in a covalently bonded molecule continually compete for shared electrons
The attraction (pull) for shared electrons is called electronegativity More electronegative atoms pull harder

Unequal electron sharing creates polar molecules

In molecules of only one element, the pull toward each atom is equal, because each atom has the same electronegativity
The bonds formed are called nonpolar covalent bonds

The emergence of biological function starts at the chemical level

Everything an organism is and does depends on chemistry Chemistry is in turn dependent on the arrangement of atoms in molecules In order to understand the whole, biologists study the parts (reductionism) Molecules and ecosystems are at opposite ends of the biological hierarchy
Each level of organization in the biological hierarchy builds on the one below it At each level, new properties emerge

Unequal electron sharing creates polar molecules

Water has atoms with different electronegativities
Oxygen attracts the shared electrons more strongly than hydrogen So, the shared electrons spend more time near oxygen The result is a polar covalent bond

Unequal electron sharing creates polar molecules

In H2O the oxygen atom has a slight negative charge and the hydrogens have a slight positive charge
Molecules with this unequal distribution of charges are called polar molecules

()

()

(+)

(+)

Figure: A water molecule.

Hydrogen bonds are weak bonds important in the chemistry of life

Some chemical bonds are weaker than covalent bonds Hydrogen, as part of a polar covalent bond, will share attractions with other electronegative atoms

Examples are oxygen and nitrogen

Water molecules are electrically attracted to oppositely charged regions on neighboring molecules Because the positively charged region is always a hydrogen atom, the bond is called a hydrogen bond

Hydrogen bond

Figure : Hydrogen bonds between water molecules.

WATERS LIFESUPPORTING PROPERTIES

Hydrogen bonds make liquid water cohesive

Hydrogen bonding causes molecules to stick together, a property called cohesion
Cohesion is much stronger for water than other liquids This is useful in plants that depend upon cohesion to help transport water and nutrients up the plant

Hydrogen bonds make liquid water cohesive

Cohesion is related to surface tensiona measure of how difficult it is to break the surface of a liquid
Hydrogen bonds are responsible for surface tension
Figure: Surface tension allows a water strider to walk on water.

Adhesion

Water-conducting cells

Direction of water movement

Cohesion 150 m

Figure : Water Transport in Plants.

Waters hydrogen bonds moderate temperature

Because of hydrogen bonding, water has a greater ability to resist temperature change than other liquids
Heat is the energy associated with movement of atoms and molecules in matter Temperature measures the intensity of heat

Heat must be absorbed to break hydrogen bonds; heat is released when hydrogen bonds form

Ice is less dense than liquid water

Water can exist as a gas, liquid, and solid
Water is less dense as a solid, a property due to hydrogen bonding

When water freezes, each molecule forms a stable hydrogen bond with four neighbors
A three-dimensional crystal results There is space between the water molecules

Ice is less dense than water, so it floats

Hydrogen bond

Ice Hydrogen bonds are stable

Liquid water Hydrogen bonds constantly break and re-form

Figure: Hydrogen bonds between water molecules in ice and water.

Water is the solvent of life

A solution is a liquid consisting of a uniform mixture of two or more substances
The dissolving agent is the solvent The substance that is dissolved is the solute

Water is a versatile solvent that is fundamental to life processes

Its versatility results from its polarity Table salt is an example of a solute that will go into solution in water
Sodium and chloride ions and water are attracted to each other because of their charges

Ion in solution

Salt crystal Figure: A crystal of salt (NaCl) dissolving in water.