Chemistry of Life and Fundamentals of Biology Flashcards

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering basic biological principles, levels of biological organization, atomic chemistry, water properties, and biological macromolecules based on lecture notes.

Biology

The scientific study of life.

Emergent Properties

Novel properties that arise at each higher level of life's hierarchy of organization due to the specific structural arrangement and interaction of its parts.

Biosphere

The global tier of life's organization that encompasses all the environments on Earth that support life.

Ecosystem

All the living organisms in a specific area, along with the nonliving components of the environment with which they interact.

Community

The entire array of living organisms inhabiting a particular ecosystem.

Population

A group of individuals of a single species living within a specified area.

Organism

An individual living entity, such as a single brown pelican.

Cell

The fundamental structural and functional unit of life that is bounded by a membrane separating it from its environment.

Homeostasis

The process of maintaining a relatively constant internal environment within a living organism.

Matter

Anything that occupies space and has mass.

Element

A chemically pure substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical means.

Atom

The smallest unit of an element that retains the chemical properties of that element and cannot be chemically broken down further.

Proton

A positively charged subatomic particle located in the nucleus of an atom.

Electron

A negatively charged subatomic particle with negligible mass located outside the atomic nucleus.

Neutron

An electrically uncharged subatomic particle located in the nucleus of an atom.

Atomic Number

The number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom, which determines its placement on the periodic table of elements.

Atomic Mass

The total mass of an atom calculated by adding the number of protons and neutrons in its nucleus.

Covalent Bond

A chemical bond formed when two atoms share a pair of electrons.

Organic Molecules

Molecules that possess carbon-based backbones and at least one carbon-hydrogen ($\text{C-H}$) bond.

Inorganic Molecules

Molecules that lack carbon-based backbones and carbon-hydrogen ($\text{C-H}$) bonds.

Polar Covalent Bond

A covalent bond formed between atoms differing in electronegativity, resulting in an unequal sharing of electrons.

Polar Molecule

A molecule containing polar covalent bonds that has an uneven distribution of charge, resulting in partial positive ($\delta^+$) and partial negative ($\delta^-$) regions.

Hydrogen Bond

A weak electrostatic attraction between partial charges of separate polar molecules, such as between an oxygen atom of one water molecule and a hydrogen atom of an adjacent water molecule.

Cohesion

The tendency of molecules of the same substance to stick to one another, such as water molecules binding to each other via hydrogen bonds.

Adhesion

The attraction of water molecules to a different type of polar or charged molecule.

Surface Tension

A measure of how difficult it is to stretch or break the surface of a liquid, caused by cohesive hydrogen bonding at the liquid-air interface.

Specific Heat

The amount of heat required to raise or lower the temperature of $1.0\,g$ of a substance by $1.0^\circ\text{C}$; for water, this value is $1.0\,cal\,g^{-1}\,^\circ\text{C}^{-1}$.

Solution

A liquid mixture consisting of a uniform combination of two or more substances.

Solvent

The liquid agent capable of dissolving other substances in a solution.

Solute

The substance that is dissolved within a solvent to form a solution.

Hydrophobic Molecules

Nonpolar or uncharged molecules that do not interact with, dissolve in, or form hydrogen bonds with water.

Macromolecules

Large organic molecules—including carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids—that are critical to living organisms.

Monomers

Small repeating molecular subunits that link together to construct larger polymer chains.

Carbohydrates

Organic macromolecules composed of repeating monosaccharide subunits that serve as energy-storing molecules and cell structural components.

Monosaccharides

The simplest single sugar units (such as glucose, $C_6H_{12}O_6$) that typically adopt ring-shaped structures in aqueous solutions.

Polysaccharides

Large carbohydrate polymers consisting of hundreds to thousands of monosaccharide monomers linked together.

Nucleic Acids

Linear or helical polymers made of repeating nucleotide subunits (DNA and RNA) that store, transmit, and execute genetic instructions.

Lipids

A class of hydrophobic organic macromolecules that are not composed of repeating polymer subunits.

Triglycerides

Fat molecules composed of three fatty acid chains bonded to a single glycerol molecule, utilized for energy storage, insulation, and padding.

Phospholipids

Lipids composed of a hydrophilic head group with a phosphate and glycerol, and two hydrophobic fatty acid tails, which self-assemble into cell membrane bilayers.

Sterols

Lipids characterized by a backbone of four interconnected carbon rings, including cholesterol and certain hormones.

Essential Fatty Acids

Fatty acids containing specific omega bonds (such as omega-3 and omega-6) that humans cannot synthesize internally and must obtain through their diet.

Proteins

Polymers composed of 20 different amino acid monomers linked by peptide bonds, which fold into unique 3D structures to carry out cellular functions.