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Transcript
Chemical Compounds in Cells You are surrounded by particles that you can’t see! Air is made up of millions of tiny particle. They bump into your skin, hide in the folds of your clothes, and whoosh into your nose every time you take a breath! You and the world around you, including the cells in your body, are composed of tiny particles. Some of these particles are elements are other are compounds. Elements – is any substance that cannot be broken down into simple substances – the smallest unit of an element is called an atom and an element is made up of only ONE kind of element! Ex: the air around you is a mixture of gases! The gases in the air are oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide (compound) Compounds – when two or more elements combine chemically, they form a compound – most elements in living things are in compound form and the smallest unit of a compound is call a molecule! Ex: carbon dioxide is a compound made up of the elements carbon and oxygen (written as CO2) Like CO2, water is a compound, too! Each water (H2O) molecule is made up of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom! Water makes up about 2/3 of your body, and most chemical reactions within cells could not take place without water! Many compounds in living things contain the element carbon. Most compounds that contain carbon are called organic compounds and compounds that don’t contain carbon are called inorganic compounds! Ex: H2O (water) and NaCl (sodium chloride) and table salt are all inorganic! Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids are important groups of organic compounds in living things! Carbohydrates – is an energy-rich organic compound made of elements C (carbon), H (hydrogen) and O (oxygen) – sugar and starches are carbohydrates Carbohydrates are important components of some cell parts – the cellulose found in the cell walls of plants is a type of carbohydrate Lipids – are energy-rich organic compounds made of C, H and O – fats, oils and waxes are all lipids Lipids contain even more energy than carbohydrates! Cells store energy in lipids for late use What do a bird’s feathers, a spider’s web and your fingernails have in common? All of these substances are made mainly of proteins!! Proteins – are large organic molecules made of C, H, N (nitrogen) and in some cases, S (sulfur) – meat, eggs, nuts and beans are all high in protein Protein molecules are made up of smaller molecules called Amino Acids. Although there are only 20 amino acids, cells can combine them in different ways to form thousands of different proteins! The kind of amino acids and the order in which they link together determine the type of protein that forms Think of the 20 amino acids as being the 26 letters of the alphabet – the letters can form thousands of words, and the letters you use and their order determine the words you form – a change in one letter, for example, from rice to mice creates a new word, and if you change the order or type of amino acid may result in a different protein! Proteins known as enzymes perform important function in the chemical reactions that take place in cells Enzyme – type of protein that speeds up a chemical reaction in a living thing and without enzymes, many chemical reactions that are necessary for life would either take too long or not occur at all Ex: enzymes in saliva speed up the digestion of food by breaking down starches into sugars in your mouth Nucleic Acids – are very long organic molecules made of C, O, N and P (phosphorus) and the contain instructions that cells need to carry out all the functions of life 2 Kinds of Nucleic Acids: Deoxyribonucleic Acids (DNA) – the genetic material that carries info about an organism and is passed from parent to offspring – most DNA found in a cell is in the chromatin, in the nucleus Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) – plays an important role in the production of proteins and is found in the cytoplasm as well as the nucleus