Organic Compounds and Life Processes Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering the basics of homeostasis, life processes, and the difference between inorganic and organic compounds as outlined in the lecture notes.

Homeostasis

A balanced state in an organism's body.

Metabolism

The sum of all basic chemical processes performed by an organism to stay alive.

Nutrition

The process of using nutrients for growth, synthesis, repair, and energy.

Cellular Respiration

The process of converting energy in food into a usable form ($ATP$).

Synthesis

The process of making complex compounds from simple substances.

Transport

The process of absorbing and distributing materials throughout a cell or the entire body.

Regulation

The control and coordination of life processes.

Excretion

The removal of wastes produced by metabolic activities.

Reproduction

The process of passing genes to offspring.

Inorganic Molecules

Simple compounds and elements such as water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen.

Water ($H_2O$)

The most common substance in all living things, accounting for about $60\%$ of human body mass; it is essential for chemical reactions and dissolving molecules for transport.

Carbon Dioxide ($CO_2$)

A gas used by plants with $H_2O$ to make glucose ($C_6H_{12}O_6$) during photosynthesis and produced as a waste product of aerobic respiration.

Oxygen ($O_2$)

A gas needed by most organisms for cellular respiration and released by plants and algae as a waste product of photosynthesis.

Aerobic Cellular Respiration

The process that uses oxygen to release energy from glucose ($C_6H_{12}O_6$) and store it in molecules of $ATP$.

Fermentation (Anaerobic)

A process that releases energy from glucose ($C_6H_{12}O_6$) without using oxygen, providing less $ATP$ than aerobic processes.

Nitrogen ($N_2$)

The most common gas in the air ($78\%$), needed to make proteins and nucleic acids.

Nitrates

The form of nitrogen converted by decomposers (like fungi and soil bacteria) that plants can absorb and animals can then eat.

Urea

A nitrogen-based waste product excreted in urine.

Organic Compounds

Large, complex molecules called polymers that always contain the elements carbon ($C$) and hydrogen ($H$).

Monomers

Simpler substances, also known as building blocks, from which organic compounds are synthesized.