Chapter 3: Movement in and out of cells

Definitions:
1. Diffusion: net movement of particles from a region of high concentration to a
region of low concentration down the concentration gradient as a result of
their random movement..
2. Osmosis: net movement of water molecules from a region of high water
potential to a region of low water potential down the water potential gradient
through a partially permeable membrane.
3. Active transport: movement of particles through a cell membrane from a
region of low concentration to a region of high concentration, against the
concentration gradient using energy from respiration

Important pointers:
● Energy for diffusion and osmosis comes from the kinetic energy of particles.
● Hypertonic solution: higher concentration (outside cell); isotonic solution:
same concentration (as cell); hypotonic concentration: lower concentration
(outside cell)
● Large surface area: faster diffusion; high temperature: faster diffusion; greater
concentration gradient: faster diffusion; less distance: faster diffusion
● Water acts as a solvent which is useful for transport, digestion and excretion.
● If high concentration outside: animal cell shrivels, plant cell becomes flaccid
and gets plasmolysed in extreme cases; if low concentration outside: animal
cell swells and bursts in extreme cases, plant cell becomes turgid.
● Water provides necessary turgor pressure.
● Protein carriers on root hair cells use active transport to absorb ions from soil
Chapter 4: Biological molecules
Important pointers:
● Carbohydrates:
○ Made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
○ Glucose (monosaccharide)
○ Starch, glycogen, cellulose (polysaccharides)
● Fats:
○ Made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen
○ Fatty acids and glycerol (smaller molecules)
○ Lipids - fats and oils (larger molecules)
● Proteins:
○ Made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen
○ Amino acids (smaller molecules)
○ Proteins (larger molecules)
● DNA:
○ Two strands coiled together to form a double helix.
○ Each strand contains chemicals called bases.
○ Bonds between base pairs hold strands together.
○ A-T,G-C
Chapter 5: Enzymes
Definitions:
1. Catalyst: substances that increase the rate of reaction without being changed
by the reaction.
2. Enzymes: proteins that are involved in all metabolic reactions where they
function as biological catalysts.
Important pointers:
● Enzymes increase the rate of reactions enough to sustain life.
● They have a shape which is complementary to only their particular substrate,
so that they can form enzyme-substrate complexes, which form products.
● Too low temperatures cause particles to have very low kinetic energy ,
leading to less frequent collisions so rate of reaction decreases, and enzymes
cannot work much.
● Too high temperatures or extremely different pH cause the active site to
denature so they cannot combine with substrates and cannot form products.
● The temperature at which the rate of collision of an enzyme is the highest is
called the optimum temperature. Similarly, the pH at which the rate of collision
is highest is the optimum pH.