IB BIOLOGY WITH CHERYL HICKMAN – NOTES

2.1 MOLECULES TO METABOLISM

Organic molecules contain carbon and most of them contain carbon-carbon bonds. Life on earth is
said to be carbon based.

Carbon forms 4 stable covalent bonds.

Monomers are put together to make long molecules called polymers by polymerization.

Metabolism is the sum of the chemical changes that take place in a cell or an organism. These
changes make energy and the materials cells and organisms need to grow, reproduce, and stay
healthy. Eg: Replication of DNA, Synthesis of RNA, Synthesis of proteins, Cellular respiration, etc.

Chemical reactions take place by collisions between molecules if the activation energy threshold is
reached. This depends on the molecules being collided, orientation of the molecules and the speed
of the molecules. Increasing the temperature of the medium increases the speed and therefore will
result in more reactions.

Enzymes are proteins that lower the activation energy by putting molecules in the right orientation
to make it more likely that their collision will result in a reaction. It is described as a lock-key, and the
reaction takes place at the active site.

ATP synthase is an example of an enzyme that brings together ADP and inorganic phosphate for the
reformation of ATP.

Metabolism is of two types: catabolism, which involves breaking down of large molecules into
smaller ones (eg: hydrolysis) and releases energy, and anabolism, which builds larger molecules by
putting together smaller molecules (eg: condensation) and requires energy.

Vitalism (belief that organic molecules can only produce living things) was disproved by the
production of urea by adding inorganic molecules together by Friedrich Wohler in the 1800’s.
2.2 WATER

file:///C:/Users/HP/Downloads/2.1_Chemical_Elements_and_Water.pdf

Each hydrogen in a water molecule is bound to the oxygen with a polar covalent bond. As the oxygen
pulls the shared electrons a little closer to itself that the hydrogens, it results in the oxygen being a
little more negatively charged, and makes the hydrogens positively charged.

The bonds between water molecules are called hydrogen bonds. They are just attractions between
the molecules. A single hydrogen bond is not too strong but many of them makes it very strong,
therefore water molecules tend to bond with four others in a tetrahedral arrangement.