Studied by 4 people
what is a monomer?
smaller, repeating units that join together to form large molecules
what is a polymer?
a complex molecule made from a large number of monomers joined together
give 3 examples of monomers.
monosaccharides.
amino acids.
nucleotides.
give 3 examples of polymers.
polysaccharides.
proteins.
DNA/RNA.
give 2 polymers that are not considered to be ‘true’ polymers and a reason why.
proteins and DNA,
because the monomers change, so they are not formed from repeating units
what happens in a condensation reaction?
a chemical bond is formed between 2 molecules.
a water molecule is released.
a larger molecule is formed.
what happens in a hydrolysis reaction?
a water molecule is used
to break a chemical bond between 2 molecules.
so larger molecule is broken down.
why is hydrolysis important?
larger biological molecules may be too large to be transported into cells.
they must be hydrolysed, because monomers are easier to transport than polymers.
smaller molecules can then be taken up by the cells and used for a number of functions and important reactions, e.g. respiration.
true or false:
polymers are simple molecules with ionic bonds.
false - polymers are giant molecules with covalent bonds
Note 
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