Carbon-The Element of Life Finale Draftee

The Rise and Fall of a Star
“Everything that has a beginning has an

ending.”- Jack Kornfield
See, apparently in the ancient times, they thought the

stars to be fixed and eternal.
In 185 AD, Chinese astronomers saw what they
called a “guest star”. The “star” in question was a
supernova called RCW 86. It made appearance for
eight months and vanished.
Image 1: This is RCW86, the oldest recorded

supernova.
Image Courtesy: NASA
1 | Carbon: The Element of Life

We now head to the 11th century, or to be precise,
1054 AD. A new star, brighter than the Moon, was
formed in constellation of Taurus the Bull. It lasted for
two years before fading. The “star” here is famous
Crab Nebula, also known as SN 1054.
Image 2: This is the Crab Nebula, one of the prehistoric nebulae,

still under study.
Image Courtesy: en.wikipedia.org

Let’s move to the 17th century. Newton discovers
gravity and the laws of classical motion. He explains
that gravity is universal and it is an attractive force.
Many other scientists came and enhanced our
knowledge of the Universe. We can now find
nebulas, galaxies, black holes using computers.
But the question still remained. How did the Earth
form to be habitable?
Let’s take an example of us, I mean, the humans. We
start off as a baby, growing up, consuming
energy(scientifically), go through different stages of
life, like teenage, adulthood and finally old age.
There are many funeral rites across the world when
we die. Hindus burn the body, Christians and
Muslims bury, Egyptians mummify and so on. But in
the end, the body decays and the energy is sucked
by Mother Earth.
This cycle sort of applies to stars. We see that the star

is not there initially. In place of it there is a stellar
nebula. The material of the nebula slowly starts to
accumulate at a certain point. The star has now two
choices, be simple and become an average star like
our Sun, or be greedy and become shiny like Sirius.
Let’s take the case of an average star. Oh, also, there
are two types of average stars, simple and greedy
(P.S: These are my observations. Don’t use these

terms). The simple average star has a chance to form
planets from the remaining residue of the stellar
nebula. Of course, it will have a tough time to keep
the planets in order using gravity. The greedy one
can accumulate more nebular matter, but it will be
classified as an average star, the only difference
being in the temperature and luminosity. The
“simple” average stars like the Sun have a radius of
696,340 km. The “greedy” average stars are slightly
bigger, having an average radius of 1,190,300 km
(Sirius A).
Image 3: This is Sirius A, one of the brightest stars in the night

sky and a part of the Sirius binary system.
Image Courtesy: space.com

Both the stars grow relatively, becoming giants. They
have a radius of around 17,671,000 km (Arcturus).
The giants now consume more energy to sustain its
form.
A situation arises when the giant is not able to sustain
its shape and bursts. It forms a planetary nebula. A
planetary nebula is nebula which can spawn
cosmological objects but at a slower rate than that of
a stellar nebula. In the middle of energy of the
previous giant, there lies a small white dwarf. It is
basically the core of the previous star.
Image 4: This is Arcturus, a red giant. It proposed

that the Sun will also become a red giant,
swallowing Mercury and Venus due to its size.
Image Courtesy: science.howstuffworks.com

Let’s now take the case of the massive star. The radius
of a massive star is around 617,100,000 km
(Betelgeuse). They also become big but their giant
forms aren’t called as giants. They are called super
giants. With an average radius of 887,100,000 km
(Delta Cephei) and mass of 3.58 * 1031 kg (Rigel),
they stand out big. The biggest star, UY Scuti (data
might change in future), is also a supergiant.
Image 5: This is Betelgeuse, a red supergiant. It is said that this

star will die in a violent supernova.
Image Courtesy: universetoday.com

Image 6: This is Delta Cephei, as viewed from the night sky.
Image Courtesy: theskylive.com

Image 7: This is Rigel, a blue supergiant. It is lies in
the famous constellation of Orion and is one of the
brightest stars in the night sky.
Image Courtesy: astronomytrek.com

Here’s where things get a little interesting. The death
of a massive star leads to a supernova. So, all the
historic examples we saw were previous super giants.
But what will happen after the supernova?
Image 8: A supernova ejecting the elements of the previous star.

Image Courtesy: space.com
There is a limit called as the Chandrasekhar Limit. It

states that after a threshold mass of a star, the star will
implode and become a black hole. The limit is
generally around 1.4 times the mass of our Sun. And
if the mass is lower than the limit, it will form into a
neutron star.

A neutron star is a star which is made up of, well,
neutrons. Due to high polarity, neutron stars often
spin to speeds close to what we term as “super-fast”.
Image 9: This is the Crab Pulsar, a relatively young

neutron star, formed in the remanent of the Crab
Nebula.
Image Courtesy: Wikipedia
A black hole is a body is a region in space (or should I

say, spacetime) where gravity is the king. The levels
of gravitational force become so high that no
particle, man, spaceship, star, planet, or even light

could pass through the vortex.
(Small fact of consolation: Black holes “evaporate”
after a few billion years due to Hawking Radiation.)
Image 10: This is a photo render of the Cygnus X-1 black hole,
situated in the Cygnus constellation. The acceleration of gravity
here is a staggering 20.42 m/s2, which is almost double the
gravity on Earth.
Image Courtesy: scitechdaily.com
Anyways, when we are dealing with life, we often look

for the simple and average star like our Sun.
Why? The question shall be answered in the
upcoming chapters.
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“The mind that opens a new idea never

returns to its original size.” – Albert Einstein

The Biggest Nuclear
Reactor- A Star
“The foods we choose make a difference.”-
Michael Greger.
Funnily, it so happens that when a star “eats”, it
changes the whole Universe.
Let’s start of from the new born star. Baby Star has to
ingest lots of materials from the nebula remanent to
maintain its form as a star. Slowly and gradually, the
star grows bigger and hotter. It is now able produce
energy for itself.
To produce energy, normal electric currents will not
do for the star. It needs something big.
And that’s where nuclear fusion comes into the
picture. We humans have been messing with nuclear
power recently, as in the 21st century. We divide
nuclear energy into two types.
1. Nuclear Fission: It is basically saying that a

heavy atom like Uranium gets decayed into
smaller atoms like Krypton. A lot of energy is
generated in this process.

Image 11: To trigger a nuclear reaction we need a neutron to
destabilize the uranium, which triggers a chain reaction.
2. Nuclear Fusion: It is basically saying that we

are smashing lighter atoms to get heavy atoms
and energy. It is the opposite of nuclear fission.
We will be studying nuclear fusion in this
chapter.

Image 12: A deuterium atom and an alpha particle are smashed
together and become unstable. The by-products of this reaction
are tritium and neutrons.
Image Courtesy: nuclearconnect.org
The star’s primary energy source is hydrogen. Since

hydrogen is in abundance due to proton-proton
reactions, it is easy for the star to undergo nuclear
fusion. The by-products of the fusion are helium and
energy. This is called as H-He reaction.

Image 13: When deuterium and tritium atoms collide at high
speeds, energy and helium is formed. This is one of the classic
examples of nuclear fusion.
The star undergoes from helium to other relatively

heavy elements like lithium, beryllium etc. This
process is called energetic particle interaction.

Image 14: When lithium and deuterium combine,
alpha particles are formed.
When the fusion reaches carbon, a new cycle starts.

First carbon occurs, then nitrogen and oxygen. This is
called as CNO cycle.

Image 15: This is a classic CNO cycle. But when an accumulation
of oxygen happens, this cycle stops.
When it reaches oxygen, if forms new elements in

spheres of varying distances from the core. The
lighter elements like hydrogen are situated in the
outside. This reaction stops when the core becomes
iron. Then, the energy for fusion is gone or is very
minute for the big giant star.

Image 16: This is what happens when a star accumulates matter
in its body. When iron is in abundance, the collection stops.
Image Courtesy: lumen.courselearning.com
Applying the theory of death of stars in the previous

chapter, we can now decide what it will be after
death. So, when they explode, they release the
elements into the outer Universe.
But how do we find elements that are made far away?
We use spectroscopy.
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“In the midst of darkness, light persists.”- Mahatma

Gandhi

Spectroscopy- The Art of
Elements
“It’s not fun to do spectroscopy.”- Garik
Israelian
Yeah, it is not fun. It is deadly serious when you are
finding exoplanets.
We all like colours, right? Red for Anger, Blue for Sky,
Green for Earth, White for Air, and so on.
Let’s just say that such colours exist in spacetime. To
us, most gases are invisible in nature. We can only
detect them by doing certain experiments like
candle, matchstick etc.
Humans wanted to see the gases at any cost. So,
what did we do? We detected the absorption of light
of the gas through a prism and inserted an analyser.
We found that there were beams of light of varying
colours on the screen.
There are two types of spectrums (or should I say,
spectra):
1. Absorption spectrum: All substances absorb
light to some extent. So, the spectrum analysed

on the basis of absorption, is called absorption
spectrum.
2. Emission spectrum: Again, all substances emit
light when hit with photons. So, the spectrum
analysed on the basis of absorption, is called
absorption spectrum.
Here are some substances and their emission and
absorption spectra:
Element Emission spectrum Absorption spectrum

Hydrogen
Helium
Lithium
Carbon
Nitrogen
Oxygen
But how to read these images? You have to look in

the form of wavelengths. Wavelength of a wave is
somewhat related to the source of the waves. Wider

the wavelength, i.e., the distance of one crest and
one trough, lower the energy. Often it happens that
the wider wavelengths emit red light and the
narrower ones emit purple light. So, if a source
element is projecting waves of a particular
wavelength, we can say that the element is having the
particular energy. If the analyser is showing the lines
from the left at a high intensity, i.e., a thick line, it
generally means that the substance is ionized or
unstable.
Image 17: This is NGC 604, a H II region in the Triangulum Galaxy.

A H II region has ionized hydrogen which helps in the formation
of stars. Note the bluish tint of colour at the centre and compare
it with the spectrum diagram of hydrogen.

But what is the relation of spectroscopy to
exoplanets? Everything, you and I, the stars, the
planets, the moons radiate energy. We are looking
for one element in particular.
Carbon.
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Persistence is to the character of man as

carbon is to steel. -Napoleon Hill

What is an Atom?
“A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at
itself.”- Niels Bohr
Before we visit carbon, we need to see what is an
atom.
Imagine you have a building. To create the building,
you need the four walls. To create those walls, you
need bricks. So, here, bricks are the fundamental unit
of building.
Let’s replace “building” with “substance”, the “walls”
and “bricks” with “atoms”. Now the sentence
becomes:
“To create a substance, you need molecules. To
create those molecules, you need atoms.”
Bricks
Walls
Building
Atom
Molecule
Substance
Let’s start with the atom. The atom is held together
by charges. Like charges repel, unlike attract, those
types of charges. The positive charge is being
provided by the proton. It has a mass of 1.67262 ×
10−27 kg and a charge of +1 (obviously).
The negative charge is being provided by the

electron. It has a mass of 9.10938356 × 10-31 kg and a
charge of -1.
The extra mass is being provided by the neutron. For
example, an atom of helium has a weight of 4 “units”
and it contains 2 “units” of protons (casually ignoring
the electrons as they are too small), so scientists
concluded that the extra 2 “units” must come from a
new particle which was ignored earlier.

Image 18: This is the Bohr’s version of the atom. Note that all
protons and neutrons are concentrated in the nucleus. The
electrons revolve around the nucleus.
Image Courtesy: shutterstock.com

So, to find the number of electrons/protons in a
neutral atom, we use this formula:
Number of electrons = Number of protons

(At this point, you are, like, this man is bonkers. Of
course, by common intuition, they would be equal.)
Problem 1: A neutral atom X has 18 electrons. Find
the number of protons.
Solution: Total charge of the electrons = (-1 × 18)
= -18
To nullify the negative charges, we need positive
charges.
So, 0-(-18) = +18
Number of protons= 18
There are many things that define an atom. Here are

some of the followings:
1. Atomic Number: It is the number of protons or
electrons in a neutral atom. For example,
hydrogen has one proton, so its atomic number
is 1. It is denoted by the letter Z.
Problem 2: The atomic number of X is 187. Find the
number of electrons.
Solution: Atomic number= Number of protons
So, the atom has 187 protons.
Then, applying number of protons = number of
electrons, we get the answer as 187 electrons.
2. Atomic Mass: It is the sum of the protons and
the neutrons inside the element. For example,
helium has 2 protons and 2 neutrons, so the
atomic mass of helium is 4. It is not the same as
atomic weight.
Problem 3: The number of protons and neutrons in
atom M are 20 and 15 respectively. What is the
atomic mass of M?
Solution: Atomic mass = 20+15
= 45 amu (atomic mass unit)
3. Electronic configuration: It describes how the
electrons are arranged in an atom. For
example, the electron configuration of lithium is
1s12s1, or to be lazy, [He]2s1. The first one is the
standard notation and is often longer when you
get to heavier elements. The second one is the
abbreviated one. This uses noble gases to
shorten the writing. The constant, in this case
“2”, denotes the energy shell, the power
denotes the number of electrons in the shell
and the “s” denotes the type of shell.

Problem 4: If element “X” contains 2 electrons in
the innermost shell and seven electrons in the
outer shell, write the noble gas electronic
configuration of element “X”.
Solution: Element “X” has 2 electrons in the inner
most shell, so they will go into the 1st s-shell, i.e.,
1s2. The other 5 electrons shall be divided into 2
and 5 electrons, i.e., the 2nd s-shell and the p-shell.
The final output is 1s22s22p5. Now, we know
helium is the nearest noble gas to the element,
which has the configuration 1s2. Replace 1s2 with
“[He]” and the final answer is [He]2s22p5.
(By the way, this element “X” is the element
fluorine, so no mysteries around it, please.)
4. Valency: It denotes (sort of) the combing
power of the element. It is related to the
electrons in the outermost shell. We will discuss
this parameter later.
Problem 5: Write the valency of phosphorus, which
has the electronic configuration 2,8,5.
Solution: The last term in the configuration
represents the outermost electrons and are called
valence electrons. So, phosphorus has 5 valence
electrons. But that is not our answer. You see, valence
electrons from 1 to 4 are considered as metals and
are given the valence number equal to the number of

valence electrons. Valence electrons from 5 to 7
(cause 8 means noble gas) are considered as non-
metals and we need to apply the expression 8 - (no.
of valence electrons in the non-metal). In our case,
phosphorus has 5 valence electrons, so subtract 5
from 8 and we get 3 as our valency.
5. Electronegativity: It denotes the “selfishness”
of the atom. Basically, it is the measure of
attracting the shared electrons of the other
element in the compound. To find the
electronegativity of a molecule, we need to
subtract the electronegativity values of its
constituent elements.
Problem 6: Write the electronegativity of fluorine if
hydrogen fluoride has an electronegativity value of
1.9 and the value for hydrogen is 2.1.
Solution: The formula for electronegativity of a
molecule is: Electronegativity of a molecule=
Electronegativity of larger atom – electronegativity of
smaller atom. Since we don’t know the
electronegativity of fluorine, assume it as “x”.
Plugging in the values, we get 1.9 = x -2.1.
Transposing 2.1 to the left-hand side of the equation,
we get 1.9 + 2.1 = x, which gives our final answer as
4.0.

We are now done with the inherent mathematical
stuff of an atom. I think it’s time for an upgrade from
elements to compounds.
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“Success is little more than a compound of

man and moment.” – Phillip Guedalla

Element to Compound: An
Upgrade
“All Nature is linked together by invisible
bonds and every organic creature, however
low, however feeble, however dependent, is
necessary to the well-being of some other
among the myriad forms of life.”- Georges
Perkins Marsh
There are two ways in which elements can combine
to form compounds:
1. Ionic Bonding
2. Covalent Bonding
Ionic bonding is the process in which one atom loses
its electrons and the other one gains the electron(s).
For example, sodium has an extra electron and
chlorine needs one electron to complete its shell.
They react violently for the electron and found
themselves being a component of the compound
NaCl, or common salt.

Image 19: The following image shows the ionic transfer of an
electron from sodium (Na) to chlorine (Cl) to form a compound,
NaCl.
Image Courtesy: itc.gsw.edu
To look at the technical picture, the atom that is

giving the electron is called the cation and the atom
which takes the electron is called as the anion of the
compound.
So, is this the case only for sodium and chlorine? No.
There are, ah, some tables you need/ need not
memorise to create simple ionic compounds.

Anions
Name of ion Formula Valency
Hydrogen HCO3- -1
Carbonate
Hydrogen HSO4- -1
Sulphate
Hydrogen HSO3- -1
Sulphite
Fluoride F- -1
Chloride Cl- -1
Bromide Br- -1
Iodide I- -1
Hypochlorite ClO- -1
Iodate IO3- -1
Nitrite NO2- -1
Nitrate NO3- -1
Dihydrogen H2PO4- -1
phosphate
Cyanide CN- -1
Thiocyanate SCN- -1
Permanganate MnO4- -1
Hydride H- -1
Hydroxide OH- -1
Superoxide O 2- -1
Hydrogen HO2- -1
peroxide
Carbonate CO32- -2
Chromate CrO42- -2
Dichromate Cr2O72- -2
Manganate MnO42- -2
Sulphide S2- -2
Sulphite SO32- -2
Sulphate SO42- -2
Oxide O2- -2
Peroxide O22- -2
Zincate ZnO22- -2
Aluminate AlO33- -3
Arsenate AsO43- -3
Boride B3- -3
Borate BO33- -3
Nitride N3- -3
Phosphide P3- -3
Phosphite PO33- -3
Phosphate PO43- -3
Ferricyanide [Fe -3
(CN)6]3-
Ferrocyanide [Fe -4
(CN)6]4-
Carbide C4- -4

Cations
Name of the Formula Valency
ion
Hydrogen H+ +1
Lithium Li+ +1
Sodium Na+ +1
Potassium K+ +1
Rubidium Rb+ +1
Copper (I) Cu+ +1
[Cuprous]
Silver Ag+ +1
Gold (I) Au+ +1
[Aurous]
Mercury (I) Hg+ +1
[Mercurous]
Ammonium NH4+ +1
Phosphonium PH4+ +1
Beryllium Be2+ +2
Magnesium Mg2+ +2
Calcium Ca2+ +2
Strontium Sr2+ +2
Barium Ba2+ +2
Radium Ra2+ +2
Copper (II) Cu2+ +2
[Cupric]
Mercury (II) Hg2+ +2
[Mercuric]
Iron (II) Fe2+ +2
[Ferrous]
Chromium Cr2+ +2
[Chromous]
Cobalt (II) Co2+ +2
[Cobaltous]
Nickel Ni2+ +2
Manganese Mn2+ +2
(II)
[Manganous]
Cadmium Cd2+ +2
Zinc Zn2+ +2
Lead (II) Pb2+ +2
[Plumbous]
Tin (II) Sn2+ +2
[Stannous]
Iron (III) Fe3+ +3
[Ferric]

Manganese Mn3+ +3
(III)
[Manganic]
Aluminium Al3+ +3
Gold (III) Au3+ +3
[Auric]
Antimony (III) Sb3+ +3
[Antimonous]
Arsenic (III) As3+ +3
[Arsenous]
Chromium Cr3+ +3
Cobalt (III) Co3+ +3
[Cobaltic]
Boron B3+ +3
Platinum (IV) Pt4+ +4
[Platinic]
Lead (IV) Pb4+ +4
[Plumbic]
Tin (IV) Sn4+ +4
[Stannic]
Arsenic (V) As5+ +5
Antimony (V) Sb5+ +5
[Antimonic]

Note: Some of the elements can have two cations of
different valences. To denote that, we put a Roman
number next to it in brackets. For example, Copper
has two cations, Cu+ and Cu2+. We denote them as
Copper (I) and Copper (II) respectively. And when we
name the compounds constituting the ions, we
denote them as cuprous and cupric respectively.
So, what is the use of these tables? Well, we can
simulate real-life ion reactions in paper. Here’s how:
Step 1: Take the ions which you want to combine.

Let’s take Copper (I) and Fluorine.
Step 2: Note down the valencies of both the
elements.
Step 3: Write them like this:
Element: Copper
Fluorine
Valency: +1 -1
Step 4: Cross-multiply the elements and the

valencies, i.e., the minus one will go to copper and
the plus one will go to fluorine.
Step 5: Remove the signs. The final answer will be
CuF or cuprous fluoride.

This was the case of monovalence, that is combining
valencies of value one each. So, can we combine an
ion of valence 1 and of valence 4?
Problem 4: If I combine an ammonium ion with a

ferrocyanide ion, what compound will I get? Also
derive its formula.
Solution: Ammonium ion: NH4+
Ferrocyanide ion: [Fe (CN)6]4-
NH4 [Fe (CN)6]4-
+1 4-
After cross-multiplying, we get (NH4)4Fe (CN)6 or

simply, ammonium ferrocyanide.
A special case arises when the valencies are equal

but are greater than one.
Problem 5: If I combine a lead (II) ion with a
carbonate ion, what compound will I get? Also derive
its formula.
Solution: Lead (II) ion: Pb2+
Carbonate ion: CO32-
Pb CO3
+2 -2

After cross-multiplying, we get Pb2 (CO3)2. But is this
the final answer? No. An additional step to such
problems is to cancel out the common factor of the
valencies, in this case 2. So, now, the final answer
should be PbCO3 or plumbous carbonate.
This was the case when the atoms are taken from one
atom and given to the other. What if the atoms share
the electrons?
When atoms share electrons, the bond between
them is called a covalent bond. So how do covalent
bonds work?
Let us bring the concept of valence electrons here.
Let’s take the example of oxygen.

Image 20: An oxygen atom according to the Bohr’s atomic
theory.
Image Courtesy: sciencephoto.com

We see that it needs two electrons to fill its outermost
shell. If I now bring another oxygen which, again,
needs two electrons to fill, we can now form two
shared covalent bonds like such:
In reality, the bond looks like this:

Image 21: A double bond formed by two oxygen atoms to form
oxygen gas (O2) along with the pi and sigma bonds.
Image Courtesy: brainkart.com
This happens because electrons revolve around the

nucleus in an orbital, forming long and tear-drop
shaped orbits. And when they share the electron, the
orbital combines into one.
Molecules such as O2 (oxygen molecule), H2
(hydrogen molecule), Cl2 (chlorine molecule), N3
(nitrogen molecule), C-60 (buckminsterfullerene),
CH4 (methane), C6H6 (benzene), etc are formed by
covalent bonds.
These orbitals look complicated, right? What if there
was a way to show these bonds?
In 1916, a man called Gilbert N. Lewis explained the
concept of an electron dot structure in his book The
Atom and The Molecule.
It says that instead of arranging atoms in circles we
can arrange them like this:

The O in the middle represents the nucleus and the
dots are the outermost electrons.
And when we combine two oxygen atoms to form an
O2 molecule, we represent it like this:
(I rearranged the dot structure for simplicity.)

So now the two single dots become bonds.
There are a lot of differences between ionic and

covalent bonds.
S. No Basis of Ionic Bonds Covalent Bonds

difference
1. Elements They are generally They are generally
formed between a formed between
metal and a non- two non-metals.
metal.
2. Electrons The electrons are The electrons are
transferred from shared between
one atom to the elements.
another.
3. Melting Point High melting point Low melting point
4. Boiling Point High boiling point Low boiling point
5. Direction of Non-directional Directional bond
bond bond
6. Polarity High polarity Low polarity
7. Shape Definite shape Irregular shape
8. State at room Sometimes solid, Sometimes liquid
temperature mostly liquid and and gaseous,
gaseous mostly solid

So what is the meaning of these bonds in our quest
of exoplanets? We are looking for a element that can
bind with many other elements.
Carbon.
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“Organic chemistry has become a vast

rubbish heap of puzzling and bewildering
compounds.” – J. Norman Collie

Carbon’s Army of
Compounds-1
“We define organic chemistry as the chemistry
of carbon compounds.”- August Kekulé
So, from our last chapter we learnt that elements can
form compounds through two major bonds: ionic
and covalent.
Image 22: A carbon atom with its nucleus and

electrons, according to the Bohr’s model of an atom.
Image Courtesy: byjus.com

So, what is so “special” about carbon? Well, there are
two parameters:
• Carbon can gain four electrons to complete its
outermost shell.
• Carbon can lose four electrons to complete its
outermost shell.
Now we have a versatile compound which can either
gain or lose electrons.
So, let’s see how carbon forms compounds. In this
example, we will take methane (CH4) as our test
subject.
• Carbon needs four electrons to complete four
electrons.
• Hydrogen can share one electron.
• So, they form a compound like this:
This compound is called methane and has four single

hydrogen bonds around a carbon.

Methane, like all covalent compounds is mostly
found in its gaseous state. It is used as a fuel and as
an ingredient for making organic chemical.
Next example, ethane (C2H6).
1. Make a single carbon-to-carbon bond.
2. Hydrogen can share one electron and each
carbon needs three electrons.
3. So, the compound looks like this:
Ethane is used in plastic and detergent

manufacturing.
Now, there is a table of common compounds and
their uses in real life as follows:
(The black spots are carbon atoms and the white
spots are hydrogen.)

Name of Formula 2-D Structure 3-D Structure Real-life
compound applications
Methane CH4 Used as a fuel,
extensive use
in
organic
chemicals
Ethane C2H6 Used in plastic

and plastic
bag
manufacturing
ingredient in
anti-freeze and
detergents
Propane C3H8 Used in home

heating,
small stoves
and LPG
Butane C4H10 Used in

synthetic
rubber in tyres
and as a fuel

Pentane C5H12 Used in
gasoline,
polystyrene,
an ingredient
in solvent of
organic
compounds.
Hexane C6H14 Used as a
solvent in
industrial
cleaners, has
an important
role in oil-seed
extraction

Such compounds are called linked compounds,
accounting for the shape of the compounds.
Let’s take hexane for the moment. To analyse such
compounds, we take the “skeleton” of the
compound, (by removing all the other elements
other than carbon) as such:
We see it is a straight link of six carbon atoms. What if

I split the chain into this?
And now if I attach the hydrogens to the carbon

atoms, I get:

The structure looks a lot different from the above
straight linked yet the chemical composition is the
same, six carbons. Such compounds are called
branched compounds.
What else can we do to this straight linked hexane
skeleton? Let’s assume the six atoms as six points and
the distance between two adjacent points is equal.
What is the first shape that come to our mind? Yes, a
regular hexagon is our first choice. So, the skeleton
looks like this:

Adding the hydrogens, we get:
Such compounds are called cyclic compounds.

We have just touched the tip of the iceberg. We can
create more compounds using different elements
like chloro-compounds, ketones, alkanes, alkynes,
basically the stereotypical aspect of chemistry.
--------------------------------------------------------------
-----

“You will die but carbon will not; its career
does not end with you. It will return to the soil,
and there a plant may take it up again in time,
sending it once more on a cycle of plant and
animal life.”- Jacob Bronowski

Carbon’s Army of
Compounds-2
“We cannot hope to either understand or to
manage the carbon in the atmosphere unless
we understand and manage the trees and the
soil too.”- Freeman Dyson
In the last chapter, we learnt that carbon has a
tendency to form almost unlimited compounds. The
compounds we saw are called as hydrocarbons. Now
we will see, as promised in the previous chapter, how
carbon reacts to other elements.
There are some fundamental groups when we study
carbon’s compounds. Some can be simple like
chloro-compounds and some can be complex like
carboxylic acids.
(For all these examples, the main hydrocarbon is
butane.)
Starting with chlorine; chlorine needs one electron to
complete its outer shell and carbon can give it. So,
what we can do is, take the hydrocarbon and
substitute one hydrogen for chlorine, as follows:

This compound is now called chlorobutane, i.e, four
carbons with hydrogens and one chlorine.
This holds true for all the halogens, that is, fluorine,
chlorine, bromine, iodine, etc. The general name of
these compounds is called haloalkanes. The prefix
used to define these compounds are chloro-, fluoro-,
bromo-, etc.
Next up is the alcohol group. It is rather
straightforward. It looks like this:

(The carbon atom shown is just an example how an
OH molecule reacts with a carbon atom.
Attach the OH molecule to substitute the hydrogen,
as follows:
The compound created above is called butanol. It is

used as a solvent in the food industry, in lacquers and
varnishes, vegetable oils, dyes, etc. To write the suffix
for such compounds with an alcohol group is to
remove the “-e”, in this case, it becomes “butan- “.
Next, add the suffix “-ol”, so that it becomes, in this
case, butanol.
Next up is the aldehyde group. This is how an
aldehyde looks like:

Attaching this group to butane, we get:
This compound is called butanal. It is used in rubber

accelerators, synthetic resins, solvents and
plasticizers. The suffix for such compounds is
obtained by removing the “-e” and adding a “-al” in
the end, in this case, butanal.
Next up is the ketones. This is how a ketone looks
like:

Ah, I forgot to tell one thing. Elements can form
single, double and triple bonds in covalent
chemistry. So, it means that if I have a double bond
with carbon, two of carbon’s valencies are satisfied
and vice versa. The fundamental groups we were
seeing were composed of single bonds. The ketone
group is composed of carbon double-bonded with
oxygen. Attaching this chain to butane, we get:
This compound is now called butanone. It is used in

industrial paints, glues etc. The suffix for such

compounds is obtained by removing the “-e” and
adding a “-one”, in this case, butanone.
The next group is called the carboxylic acids. It looks
like this:
It is basically a carbon atom single-bonding with a

OH molecule and is double-bonded with oxygen on
the other side. Applying this group to butane, we
get:
This compound is called butanoic acid and is acidic

in nature (Duh, we never knew that, did we?). It is

used in the manufacture of perfumes, flavourings,
pharmaceuticals and disinfectants. The suffix for this
type of compound is “-oic acid”.
The next group is called the amides. It looks like this:
It is basically a carbon atom double bonding with

oxygen on one side, whereas single bonding with
nitrogen on the other side. Adding this group to
butane, we get:

This compound is now called as butanamide. It is
used in a lot of complicated situations, from the
manufacture of hydroxamic acids to the manufacture
beta-amodoorganotin (baffle your teacher by this).
You are now perhaps wondering how these complex
yet satisfying compounds relate to our question, that
is: How is carbon responsible for creating life as we
know today?
--------------------------------------------------------------
“Controlling carbon is a bureaucrat’s dream. If

you control carbon, you control life”- Richard
Lindzen

The Early Solar System
“On a cooler sun on a primordial earth: "I later
learned that biologists, when they are feeling
jocose, refer to this as the 'Chinese Restaurant
Problem'--because we has a dim sun.”- Bill
Bryson
Let’s now shift our focus to the early Solar System.
The Sun, as we knew, was a new born star,
sometimes referred as a protostar, or this case,
“protosun’. The protosun formed in a planetary
nebula, a big one, as it happens. The protosun began
feeding itself on the remnants of the nebula. Slowly,
the protosun became big.
Image 23: A photo render of how the sun must have

looked before it became what it is today.
Image Courtesy: phys.org

The interesting thing to note here is unlike other big
stars, the Sun did not feed itself on all the nebular
matter. After some million years, the matter started to
condense, forming the “protoplanets”. These objects
had a high revolution and rotation speed. But as we
know, momentum decreases with increase in time.
Gradually, the protoplanets took a recognizable form

in the shape of a sphere. The elements started to
settle down, relatively.
Anyways, we are not fussed about all the planets. We

are looking for one planet in particular. Earth.
Earth is special in a lot of ways. For one, it is at the

perfect distance from its host star. This factor
determines how hot or cold a planet is to be. Second,
is that, the elements categorized themselves. That is,
the lighter elements formed the atmosphere like
hydrogen, helium etc. and the heavier elements like
iron, sodium etc. formed the crust, mantle and core.
This is unique because, in some planets like Jupiter,
hydrogen, which is a gas (Duh.), can be found in a
liquid state.
The primordial Earth was a literal hell. Lakes of lava,

occasional explosions, no life, everything was
desolate here. Elements started to form compounds
but were shattered by the proto-Earth’s instability. As
mentioned, Earth cooled down, hence the elements
started making stable compounds.

The most important of these compounds are amino
acids. They are made up of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen,
and most importantly, a fundamental group, like the
aldehydes. They look like this:
(The “Ra” symbol denotes the fundamental group,

and not radium. Its usual notion is ‘R’, but I could not
find a suitable software for denoting as such.)
The “R” is unique for every amino acid, which makes

them pretty special and diversified. The most
common examples are glycine (one hydrogen),
valine (glycine but hydrogen is substituted by an
isopropyl), leucine, isoleucine, proline etc.

Amino acids gave rise to the next tier of life, proteins.
Proteins are regarded as one of the building blocks
of life because it is the main material of many cell
organelles.
The next important complex compound is glucose.

Glucose gives rise to different other compounds like
carbohydrates, fructose, sucrose, and most
importantly, cellulose. It looks like this:
The third complex compound we are going to

discuss are fatty acids. These are the, sort of, a
storage area for glucose. They look like this:

(The above compound is found in coconut oil. There
are other fatty acids which are beyond the scope for
our purpose.)
The fourth complex compound we are going to

discuss are vitamins. These compounds help in
repairing different parts of our body. They look like
this:
(The above compound is called vitamin B. It helps in

cell health, growth of red blood cells, good eyesight
etc.)
So where can we find these complex yet primordial

compounds in nature. What if I told you that you will

find these compounds in your body? Surprising, ain’t
it?
Amino acid, aka proteins (in the case of our body),

are found when you eat eggs, chicken, fish etc.
Glucose, aka carbohydrates, are found when you eat
bread, rice, jam etc. Fatty acids, aka fats, are found
when you eat oil based food like samosas, jalebis etc.
Vitamins, (no aka’s) are found when you eat
vegetables and fruits like oranges, apples, bananas,
mangoes etc.
What I would suggest for a healthy diet to have a

moderate amount of carbohydrates, a lesser quantity
of proteins, meagre amount of fats and a lot of
vitamins for a healthy body.
But, you might be asking, how does our diet relate to

our prime question?
All right, all right. To explain why I am talking about

your diet, we need to go from macroscopic to
microscopic.
--------------------------------------------------------------
“The cell never acts, it always reacts.”- Ernst

Haeckel

Cell- The Biological Atom
“A cell is regarded as the true biological
atom.” -George Henry Lewes
We know, from previous chapters, a big thing is
made from several small things. Take the case of
anything non-living, for example, a chair. They are
made from wood (aka cellulose). Cellulose is made
from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, or simply atoms.
(Of course, you will say an atom is made from
protons, electrons and neutrons. But seeing that we
have already discussed this and going too small will
complicate matters, we are not discussing further on
the subject.)
Atoms
Cellulose
Wood
Chair

Same goes for living organisms like birds, humans,
mammals, etc. We have different organs to do
different tasks like breathing, tasting, thinking and so
on. These organs are a part of an organ system, like
the respiratory system, the digestive system and the
nervous system. These organs are made up of things
called “tissues”. These are fibre-like, thin, and useful
structures for the body. These tissues are formed
from unit substances called cells.
Cell
Tissue
Organ
Organ system
Organism
So, what is a cell then? A cell, is a functional and
structural unit of life.
My science teacher always said to me, “Traditionally,
when a statement is short and concise, we take each
word seriously.” In this case, let’s start with structural.

As seen in the above pyramid chart, we can see that a
cell forms structures to comprise an organism. This
forms the structural part of the definition.
Being a fundamental part, the cell has to play a lot of
roles depending on the situation. Let’s take the
examples of the neuron and muscle. The neuron
needs to transport information across the body;
hence it needs a long and thin yet strong body.
Taking the case of muscles, they need to get the
oxygen in large amounts quickly, so that the motion
keeps going. Here we can see that a cell does some
work which helps the organism in the whole. This
forms the fundamental part of the definition.
Organisms come in two types: unicellular and
multicellular. Unicellular organisms have only one cell
to their name. These can range from the tiniest
bacteria to the largest algae which invades the lakes.
Multicellular organisms have many cells in their
name. They can range from nostoc to big elephants.
They often have trillions of cells.
Fun fact: The human body has 724,000,000,000,000
cells.
There are three factors that determine the function of
the cell:
1. Nucleus: Let’s take an example of a computer’s
CPU (central processing unit). What does a CPU

do? It processes the information and gives it as
an output, and in some cases, store the data for
further usage. The nucleus is a sort of the CPU
of the cell. It controls all the activities of the cell
like producing energy, making proteins,
creating DNA and RNA and so on. The size of
the nucleus depends of the space allocated to
the cell and the function. For example, the
muscles cells need more energy producing
organelles (organs of the cell) than a big
nucleus. Nerve cells need prefect coordination
to send information across the body. Hence the
nucleus is kept isolated from the rest of the cell.

Image 24: A photo render of a nucleus in a typical eukaryotic
cell.
Image Courtesy: videvo.net
2. Cell membrane: Let’s bring the computer back.

Your computer has an anti-virus to protect your
data from malicious software like trojans and
viruses. It analyses each file and program to
check for any viruses. The cell membrane, or if
you want to be fancy, the plasma membrane is
sort of the anti-virus software of the cell. It
analyses everything trying to enter to enter the
cell. It allows useful substances like proteins,
water etc. and rejects bad substances like
viruses etc. It is made of a phospholipid bilayer,
i.e., the top part is made of a phosphorus
molecule and the bottom part is made from
lipids.

Image 25: A plasma membrane working in full flow to sustain
the cell
3. Cytoplasm: All the cell organelles float in a jelly-

like substance called as cytoplasm. Particles like
proteins, ATPs, starch zip across the fluid
matrix. (In the image, the red fluid is the
cytoplasm.)

Image 26: The cytoplasm and the cell organelles inside it.
Image Courtesy: istockphoto.com
On the basis of the nature of nucleus, cells are

classified as prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. (Sounds
like geeky stuff to me.) The word prokaryotic is
derived from “pro- “(primitive) and “karyon” (kernel or
in this case, nucleus.) In prokaryotic (sounds easy
now?) cells, the nucleus is not fully matured to do any
high-level cell functions. Examples include amoeba,
blue-green algae, mycobacteria etc.

On the basis of position, i.e., in a plant or an animal,
cells are segregated into plant cells and animal cells.
Both are eukaryotic but plant cells have another layer
of protection after the plasma membrane called the
cell wall. It is composed of cellulose. But cell wall is
not exclusive to plants only. It has been found in
bacterial cells, algae and fungal cells (composition
might vary).
If there are so many different varieties of cells, how
do they coordinate their functions effectively. The
answer is rather obvious: organs of the cell help the
cell to perform its functions.

--------------------------------------------------------------
“Cell structure is a little like gardening. You sit
and look at the cells and then you see
something and say, “You know, that doesn’t
look right.”- Siddhartha Mukherjee

Cell- The Biological Atom:
Part 2
“Life is a whim of several billion cells to be you
for a while.”- Groucho Marx
In the previous chapter we saw the different categories of
cells on the basis of different factors like complexity of
nucleus (eukaryotes and prokaryotes), number of cells
(unicellular or multicellular) and so on.
But what we have never looked is how the cell works
so seamlessly.
Just as we have organs to perform our vital functions
like how the lungs helps in breathing, the cell has
organs known as cell organelles. Each has its own
unique properties and functions. We will we be first
looking at the organelles of a prokaryotic cell and
then progressively move to eukaryotic cells.
First up is the nucleoid. To feel prokaryotic cells
better about themselves, they have a 3rd grade copy
of a true nucleus called as a nucleoid. Apparently, it
stores all the genetic information of the cell.

Next up is the plasmid. Again, as with the nucleoid-
nucleus issue, prokaryotes have a unique type of
DNA known as plasmids. DNAs in a eukaryotic cell
are double-helix in shape but plasmids are circular.
DNA in a eukaryotic cell is found only in the nucleus
bound together by proteins called as histones
whereas plasmids are simple and not bound to some
complex structure. Also, they are found floating in the
cytoplasm.

The last thing we are discussing on prokaryotes are
its ribosomes. Ribosomes are the protein factories of
any cell, whether it is eukaryotic or prokaryotic in
nature. However, there is a fine distinction between
the ribosomes in both these types of cells. Firstly, the
ribosomes in a prokaryotic cell are the 70S
ribosomes, i.e., the “S” standing for Svedberg units
and in eukaryotic cells, it is the 80S variety of
ribosomes. Secondly, ribosomes in a prokaryotic cell
are found freely in the cytoplasm but in eukaryotes,
ribosomes are found floating AND are also found
attached to the endoplasmic reticulum of the cell.

Image 27: The ribosome without the membrane
covering it.
Image Courtesy: ma.ucsc.edu
So, we are now done with the main organelles of a

prokaryotic cell. Let’s move to an animal cell for the
basic organelles of a eukaryotic cell.
First on our list is the nucleus. Although we have
already discussed this organelle, we will now be
exploring how this teeny-tiny organelle differentiates
the huge variety of cells into lowly prokaryotes and
royal eukaryotes. (I don’t mean to differentiate, but
hey, the truth is the truth.) The nucleus is the boss of

the cell as it regulates almost everything that goes in
the cell. Want to know when the cell eats or what is
the speed of packaging of materials in and out of the
cell? The nucleus is your man, or so to say, your
organelle. It contains a library of instructions known
as genes which you inherit from your parents. For
every situation, whether it is simple or apoplectic, the
nucleus has all the solutions. These genes compile to
form DNA, that is, (be ready for hell to come),
deoxyribonucleic acid. These DNAs are bound to
histone proteins to form chromatin fibres. And when
the cell is about to divide (binary fission in most
cases), the chromatins clump together to form
chromosomes.
(I am not going into details, because 1) it’s
complicated and 2) it’s not relevant to the main topic
of our discussion.)

The nucleus has many complex things inside it. The
nucleus has an outer covering called as the nuclear
envelope (sad you can’t post any letters in it) but it is
not smooth and rigid as you might think. It has
openings so to let input material come into the
nucleus. Like the cell has cytoplasm, the nucleus has
its own jelly-like matrix known as nucleoplasm.
Chromatins are suspended in it. At the heart of the
nucleus is perhaps the most significant thing of it, the
nucleolus. It sends information to start the
productions of protein-producing ribosomes.

Image 28: A diagram of the inner workings of the
nucleus.
Image Courtesy: microbionotes.com
Next up on our hitlist is the endoplasmic reticulum or

ER for short.
It secretes various complex compounds like proteins
and lipids throughout the cell. It also acts as an
interface from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. The ER is
composed of two main components:
1. Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum: This part of the
ER is “rough” because ribosomes are
embedded in its surface. These ribosomes
along with the floating ribosomes of the
cytoplasm help the cell secrete protein for its
own use. They are found more abundantly in
the hepatocytes of the liver which needs
proteins to carry on its day-to-day functions.
2. Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum: This part of
the ER is “smooth”, because, well, it has no
ribosomes on it. It secretes important
molecules like steroids (to decrease
inflammation in the cell), phospholipids (for the
plasma membrane) and lipids (to store energy

for long term use, aka fats). They are found in
big amounts where something or the other has
to be secreted like the oil glands in the skin
which waterproofs the skin. It also helps in
detoxification of the cell.
Image 29: The endoplasmic reticulum (both RER and

SER included) with the nucleus.
Image Courtesy: javatpint.com
The next organelle is the mitochondria (singular is

mitochondrion). You can spell it like, “mai-toh-
kawn-dree-uh”. Remember this pronunciation
because this organelle is the second-best
organelle in the cell after the nucleus. It is the main
source of energy for the cell. It manufactures
“adenosine triphosphate” or just ATP for short.
This ATP along with the proteins of the ribosomes
fuel up the cell to perform its day-to-day activities.
It is believed that the mitochondria once used to
be a prokaryotic cell until it was engulfed by a
eukaryotic cell and adapted itself for the cell. Proof
of this? Well, the mitochondria has its own DNA
which only comes from your mother’s genes and
also has its own ribosomes (the 70S variety,
generally found in prokaryotes). To increase the
efficiency of the mitochondria, it has invaginations,
also known as cristae, to increase the surface area
so that more reactions can take place to form the
ATP molecules.

Image 30: Diagram of mitochondria, the powerhouse of
the cell.
The next organelle we are about to discuss is the

Golgi apparatus, (called dictyosomes in plant cells),
the packaging centre of the cell. It is named after
Camilo Golgi, the bloke who discovered it using
body, the Golgi Complex and the Golgi Apparatus.
The main function of the Golgi body/apparatus is to
“package” the proteins and lipids synthesised by the
RER/ribosomes and the SER respectively. What it
basically does is it packs the proteins and lipids into a
vesicle along with a recognition protein. The cell has
an option to decide whether to store the vesicle or
send it out for the other cells to use. The Golgi
apparatus also acts as a trash identifier. We know that
each chemical reaction has a by-product and some of
these by-products are not needed by the cell. So, to
conserve space, the “trash” molecules are sent to the
Golgi apparatus and then it is packed and sent to the
plasma membrane for disposal. It also secretes
mucus, which is present when you have a running
nose, but is beneficial in a way. Mucus traps bacteria,
viruses, fungal spores from entering your body by

trapping them in their sticky matrix. And then when
you blow your nose, all those microorganisms will go
away down the sink. The Golgi apparatus is made up
of flattened discs and has two faces, the cis face and
the trans face. The proteins and lipids enter the cis
face and get processed in the cisternae. The new
vesicle containing the modified proteins or lipids is
transferred to the trans face.
Image 31: The Golgi apparatus, along with the incoming

and outgoing vesicles.
Image Courtesy: britainnica.com

The next organelle is perhaps the most dangerous
organelle of all, the lysosome. It is known as the
“suicide bag” of the cell because it dies after doing its
function which is to basically destroy the thing it is
specified to. To give a more peaceful definition,
when a cell organelle is worn out or is doing the work
in a wonky sort of way, the lysosome goes and sprays
hydrolytic enzymes all over the organelle. It also acts
as the cell’s army as it kills the viruses, bacteria and
other stuff which are trying to invade the cell. The
lysosomes are activated by the nucleus and are
manufactured by the Golgi apparatus. It is covered in
a single membrane of width 100 µm. If you want to
infiltrate the cell, manipulating the lysosome is your
best bet.

Image 32: The lysosome, the most dangerous and
unstable organelle of a cell.
Image Courtesy: dreamstime.com

The next organelle is the vacuole, the storehouse of
the cell. It stores important nutrients like proteins,
complex molecules, ATP etc. for the cell for later
usage. Animal cells have many vacuoles but are small
in size, whereas in plant cells, the vacuole is the
prominent organelle after the nucleus. It is covered
by a membrane known as the tonoplast. Following is
a diagram of the plant cell’s vacuole (diagram won’t
vary much in animal cells, but will be a lot smaller):
Image 33: The vacuole is one of those organelles which

define the similarities between a plant cell and an
animal cell.

The next organelle is the centriole, which helps the
cell in cell division. Cell division is a fancy way of
saying that the cell splits itself into two parts called as
daughter cells and then those daughter cells divide
to form two more daughter cells and so on. They are
only two for each cell and position themselves at the
poles of the cell. The function of centrioles is to help
organize the chromosomes before cell division
occurs so that each daughter cell has the correct
number of chromosomes after the cell divides.
Centrioles are found only in animal cells, and are
located near the nucleus. They are made of a protein
called as tubulin.
Image 34: The centriole, the helper of cell divison.

Image Courtesy: science.howstuffworks.com

Now we move on the organelles of the ever-versatile
plant cell. The plant is a eukaryotic cell, like the
animal cell. So, obviously, both of them have some
things in common. But due to the process of
evolution, plants had employed more organelles to
do its functions. So, let’s now see the exceptional
organelles of the plant cell which we animals don’t
have:
Starting off, we have the cell wall, the toughest
membrane of the entire cell family. It is composed of
cellulose and hemicellulose. Its position is the outer
membrane of the cell, i.e., before the plasma
membrane. The primary function of the cell wall is to
protect and provide structural support to the cell. The
plant cell wall is also involved in protecting the cell
against mechanical stress and to provide form and
structure to the cell. It also filters the molecules
passing in and out of the cell.

Image 35: The cell wall, the plant cell’s toughest
bodyguard ever.
Image Courtesy: thoughtco.com
The next organelle of the plant cell is the plastids.

They are the next version of the mitochondria, only
more powerful and versatile. They do complex stuff
for the cell like manufacturing carbohydrates,
proteins and fats, giving the green colour to the plant
and much more. They also do the most famous thing
which plants are famous for: making food out of thin
sunlight and air. The plastid is differentiated on the
basis of function they do:
1. Proplastid: A proplastid is an organelle found
in the meristematic regions of the plant. It is

colourless and small. It is from where plastids
are derived. It is still undeveloped and may
divide to produce more proplastids. As the cell
containing proplastids mature, the proplastids
transform and develop into plastids with
specialized functions.
Image 36: A microscopically enlarged image of a

proplastid.
Image Courtesy: journals.biologists.com

2. Etioplast: Etioplasts are chloroplasts that have
not been exposed to light. They are usually
found in flowering plants grown in the dark. If a
plant is kept out of light for several days, its
normal green pigments will actually convert
into etioplasts.
Image 37: A microscopic image of the etioplast.

Image Courtesy: pixels.com
3. Leucoplast: Leucoplasts are usually found in

most of the non-photosynthetic parts of the
plant like roots. They act as a storage shed for
starches, lipids, and proteins depending on the
need of the plants. They are mostly used for
converting amino acids and fatty acids.

Image 38: A microscopic image of the leucoplast.
There are many types of leucoplasts on the basis of

what they store:
a) Amyloplasts: Amyloplasts are found in roots
and storage tissues and store and
synthesize starch for the plant through
the polymerization of glucose.

Image 38: A stained slide of amyloplasts put under a
microscope.
Image Courtesy: pixabay.com
b) Elaioplasts: Elaioplasts are found in the

anthers of flowering plants and in the seeds of
oil plants like sunflower, groundnut etc. and in
citrus fruits. They produce fats and lipids for the
cell for future usage.

Image 39: A black-white microscopic photo of
elaioplasts.
Image Courtesy: nature.com
c) Proteinoplast: Proteinoplasts (also known as

aleuroplasts) are responsible for… (duh)
proteins. They are found in protein-rich plants
like Brazil nuts, pulses and peanuts.
Image 40: A faintly-stained slide of proteinoplasts.

Image Courtesy: wikiwand.com

4. Chromoplast: Chromoplasts is the secret to a
plant’s beauty, its colour. They produce
carotenoids, i.e., different colour pigments for
the cell. They are found more concentrated in
the flowers and basically everywhere which is
not green in colour.
Image 41: A vibrant microscopic image of a group of

chromoplasts. (slide taken from the plasmodesmata of a plant
cell.
Image Courtesy: stock.adobe.com
5. Chloroplasts: Chloroplasts are a subunit of

chromoplasts, just that instead of many colours,
it produces the green pigment, chlorophyll. It is
the site for photosynthesis, i.e., producing food
from sunlight for the plant.
Image 42: A microscopic image of the driver of photosynthesis,

chloroplasts.
Image Courtesy: quora.com
So…I think we are done with all the basic organelles

of both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Note that in
some cells, they have transformed their organelles to
suit their needs. This is called adaptability of
organisms. For example, amoeba has modified its
plasma membrane to pseudopodium (meaning false

feet). It helps the organism to engulf the food on its
way.
Let’s now proceed to the second ladder of our
biology pyramid- tissues.
--------------------------------------------------------------
“Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissues.

Realize the strength and move on.” -Henry
Rollins

Tissues- The Backbone of
bio-functions
“Any cell, tissue or organ is capable of crying out
for attention, and when you give it some, the
healing process begins.” -Deepak Chopra
In the last chapter we have discussed how a cell is
capable of the most primitive of bio-functions. Now
we shall see how these cells come together in perfect
coordination to form something even more complex.
The study of tissues is called histology.
Simply put, a tissue is a group of cells working in
perfect coordination with each other. There are
several types of tissues based on what they do and
where they are located.
Just like cells, tissues are divided into two broad
categories: plant tissues and animal tissues.
Let’s start with the plant tissue this time (because we
started off with the animal cells in the previous
chapter). They are broadly classified into
meristematic and permanent tissues.
Meristematic tissues are the tissues that divide
constantly. These tissues are found in areas of growth

of a plant. The cells of this tissue are spherical, oval,
polygonal or rectangular in shape. They have a dense
cytoplasm and a prominent nucleus. On the basis of
location, the meristematic tissues are divided into
apical, intercalary and lateral meristems.
Image 43: A cross-section of a plant stem to show

the meristematic cells.
Image Courtesy: byjus.com
• Apical meristem: These tissues are situated at

the shoots and roots of the plant. They produce
vertical height to the plant.
• Intercalary meristem: These tissues are
located near the nodes and internodes of the

plant. They are responsible for the elongation
of the stem.
• Lateral meristem: These tissues are found just
beneath the bark. It is responsible for
increasing the girth or thickness of the stem.
Heading on to permanent tissues, we find that the
meristematic tissues have adapted themselves (the
technical term is differentiation) to form the
permanent tissues. They do not divide as they lose
the ability to divide on maturity. Permanent tissues
are divided on the basis of complexity, simple
permanent tissues and complex permanent tissues.
Simple permanent tissue is divided into three types,
parenchyma, collenchyma and sclerenchyma.
• Parenchyma: The cells of this tissue are large,
rounded or iso-diametric. They are thinly walled
and have a large central vacuole. The
parenchyma can change its form depending
upon what it is storing. When it contains the
green pigment chlorophyll, it becomes a
chlorenchyma. When parenchyma is present is
water plants like lotus and needs buoyancy to
float, it fills up with air and becomes an
aerenchyma. When parenchyma stores ergastic
substances (non-protoplasmic substances), it
becomes an idioblast.

Image 43: A view of a stem to prove it contains
parenchyma.
• Collenchyma: The cells of this tissue have thin

walls that are especially thick at their corners
due to deposition of cellulose and pectin.
Intercellular spaces are generally absent.
Collenchyma provides mechanical support for
plants with no secondary growth. It is present at
the margin of leaves and resist the tearing
effect of the wind.

Image 44: A view of collenchyma from a microscope.
Image Courtesy: topperlearning.com
• Sclerenchyma: The cells of this tissue are

completely dead and thick walled with
deposition of lignin. It comprises in the
formation of the secondary growth of the plant,
i.e., the bark of the cell.
Image 45: Stained slide of sclerenchyma under a
microscope.
Image Courtesy: carolina.com
Moving on to complex permanent tissues, they are

composed of more than one type of cell which work
together as a unit. There are two types of complex
permanent tissues, xylem and phloem.
• Xylem: Xylem conducts water and dissolved
minerals from the roots to all other parts of the
plant. The xylem is composed of tracheids,

vessels, xylem parenchyma and xylem
sclerenchyma. It also gives mechanical strength
to the plant.
• Phloem: Phloem conducts food and water

across the plant. It is composed of sieve tubes,
companion cells, phloem parenchyma and
phloem sclerenchyma.

Image 46: A cross-section of a flax stem. The first
circle is the pith, the second circle is the xylem, the
third circle is the xylem (a little more complex than the
previous one), the fourth one is the phloem, the fifth
one is the sclerenchyma, the sixth one is the cortex
and the last circle is the epidermis.
Next up is the cortex, the second-outer layer of a

plant. The cells are mostly thinly-walled parenchyma
and may contain chloroplasts in it (the outer cortex).
It lies below the epidermis and forms a part of the
cork of obtained from a woody plant. (Refer cross-
section for diagram.)
The last tissue of the plant cell is the epidermis.
“Epidermis” is a general term meaning “outer layer”.
It is the final covering of leaves, roots, stems and
flowers of the plant. It protects against water loss,
regulate gas exchange, secretes metabolic
compounds, and (especially in roots) absorbs water
and mineral nutrients.
(Refer cross-section for diagram.)

We have now finished with the plant part of the
tissues. Let’s move on to the tissues present in our
body, the animal tissues.
Animal tissues are classified on what do they do,
where they are present, why they are present and so
on. Broadly, animal tissues are divided into four
types: epithelial tissues, muscular tissues, connective
tissues and nervous tissues.
Starting off with the epithelial tissues, whose main
function is to cover and protect the sensitive organs
of the animal body, basically what we call the skin
and the dermal section. They also form ducts and
glands, like the sweat glands on our skin. Epithelial
tissues are classified on the basis of shape, i.e., the
shape of the cells.
• Simple epithelium:
a) Simple squamous epithelium: The cells of
this epithelium are thin, flat, irregular in
shape with no intercellular space. They
protect the linings of important organs like
mouth, oesophagus, nose, blood vessels etc.
Skin is also composed of this epithelium.

Image 47: An animated photo of a simple squamous
epithelium.
Image Courtesy: biologydictonnary.net
b) Cuboidal epithelium: The cells are cubical

in shape and are found in kidney tubules,
salivary glands, thyroid glands etc. It helps in
absorption, excretion and secretion.

Image 48: An animated photo of a simple cuboidal epithelium.
Image Courtesy: commons.wikimedia.org
c) Columnar epithelium: The cells are

cylindrical in shape in which the nucleus is
towards the base. They are found near the
lining of the stomach, small intestine and
colon, forming mucous membrane for the
gall bladders and the oviducts. A
modification of the columnar epithelium is
the glandular epithelium. It is present where
smoothness is required, like the nasal
passage where these glands secrete mucus
(too much of it and we get a cold and a
running nose) which is a
mucopolysaccharide (something complex
composed of proteins and carbohydrates).
Image 49: A pencil diagram of a columnar epithelium.
Image Courtesy: jotscroll.com
d) Ciliated epithelium: They are just columnar

epithelium, just that they have these hair-like
projections called as cilia. They are found in
the reproductive tract, the sperm duct and
the oviduct. They are also found in the lining
of the trachea and bronchi and the kidney
tubules.

Image 50 (a half-century of images, yay!): A ciliated
columnar epithelium with the hair-like projections,
cilia.
Image Courtesy: bio.davidson.edu
e) Pseudostratified epithelium: A
pseudostratified epithelium is a type of
epithelium that comprises of only a single
layer of cells, but it is positioned in a way that
the tissue looks stacked or stratified in
shape. They are found in the lining of
trachea as well as the upper respiratory tract.

Image 51: An animated image of the (oh, dear)
pseudostratified epithelium.
Image Courtesy: biologydictonnary.net
• Complex epithelium:
a) Transitional epithelium: Transitional
epithelium is a stacked or stratified
epithelium in which the shape of the surface
cell changes depending upon the degree of
stretch. When the epithelium is not
stretched, the cells of the surface layers are
large and rounded.

Image 52: A diagram of the transitional epithelium.
Image Courtesy: microbenotes.com
Next up, we meet the muscular tissues. They contain

cells with strong contractile ability which produces
movement in a body. Muscle cells are long and
slender, arranged in a parallel pattern. These cells
have a lot of microfilaments (a part of the
cytoskeleton) which are composed of actin and
myosin (a kind of complex protein). The muscular
tissue can be divided into three parts:
a) Skeletal muscles: Don’t get fooled by the term
“skeletal”. It means that these muscles
cooperate with bones to produce voluntary
(stuff which we can control) movement. Some
good examples of voluntary movement are

running, twisting your abdomen, typing a letter
to your grandmother etc. The cells of the
skeletal tissue are cylindrical with many nuclei
(plural for nucleus) arranged in bundles. It is
present in the locomotory reigons of the body,
like the legs and the arms, also in the pharynx,
tongue (yes sir, tongue is also a muscle) and at
the beginning of the oeseophagus.
Image 52: A microscopic image of the skeletal tissue.

You can see little bands across the tissue and some
purple dots. The bands are called striations and the
purple dots are the nuclei. Fun fact: Skeletal muscles
are also called straited muscles because of these
striations.
Image Courtesy: teaching.ncl.ac.uk

b) Smooth muscles: Smooth muscle cells are
spindle shaped and has a single nucleus at the
centre of each cell. These are also called
unstraited muscles because they don’t have any
bands across the tissue. These tissues are
mainly found in areas of involuntary (stuff we
can’t control) motion, like at the intestine,
arteries and veins, iris of the eye, ciliary bodies,
uterus, urinary bladder etc.

Image 53: A microscopic image of the smooth muscle. You can
see that the cells are spindle shaped with a prominent nucleus
at the centre.
Image Courtesy: medcell.med.yale.edu
c) Cardiac muscles: Cardiac muscles are

somewhat of a mix between skeletal muscles
and smooth muscles. They contain striations
like the skeletal muscle but have a single
nucleus at the centre. It is only restricted to the
heart of the body.
Image 54: A microscopic image of the cardiac muscle.

You can see the branched tissues containing the
bands and a single nucleus for each cell.

Next up, we have the connective tissues. These
tissues connect different parts of the body, fill up the
empty space, act as shock absorbers for various
delicate organs, stores energy for further use (aka
fats) and so on. Connective tissues can be divided
into four types on the basis of their function:
a) Areolar tissue: Areolar tissue is found in the

skin and in most of the internal organs of the
organism. It is found in epithelial membranes,
blood vessels, and nerves. It forms a matrix that
surrounds and supports the thing it is
supposed to protect.
Image 55: A microscopic image of an areolar tissue.

Areolar tissue is also called loose connective tissue

because of the loose threads hanging around the
tissue.
Image Courtesy: studyqueries.com
b) Dense connective tissue: This connective

tissue serves as a packing and binding material
for most of the organs in the body. Complex
molecules like collagen and elastin are present
in the matrix. This tissue is the main component
of tendons (muscle-bone connector) and
ligaments (bone-bone connector).
Image 56: A microscopic image of the dense

connective tissue. You can see the dense packing of
the cells, hence the name, “dense” connective
tissues.

c) Adipose tissue: Adipose tissues store fats
which act as a shock absorber for many delicate
organs. It is located below the skin and acts as
an insulator. The cells of the adipose, also
called as adipocytes, are irregular and have a
large central storage area for the fats. Adipose
tissues are also found in the blubber of many
snowy animals like penguins, whales, polar
bears, snow foxes etc.
Image 57: A microscopic image of an adipose tissue.

Image Courtesy: terumobct.org

d) Skeletal tissue: Skeletal tissues are the
tissues relating to the skeletal system of an
organism. They are of two types:
1. Cartilage tissue: The cells of
this tissue, also known as
chondrocytes, are responsible
for creating a firm yet flexible
matrix. It has an extensive matrix
which is usually pin, somewhat
translucent with a clearly visible
space called as a “lacunae”.
Cartilages are present in the
nose (the property which makes
you bend your nose), the ear
(some people have the ability to
twist the ears without using
his/her hands), the bone joints
and in the supporting rings of
the trachea.

Image 58: A microscopic image of a hyaline cartilage.
The purple stuff is the chondrocytes and the holes
are the lacunae.
Image Courtesy: medcell.med.yale.edu
2. Bones: The bone tissue is very

hard and non-flexible. The
matrix of bones contains
collagen fibres and mineral
deposits. The most abundant
element found there is calcium,
followed by traces of
magnesium, carbonate and
fluoride ions. The cells of the
bone tissue are called

osteocytes and are stellate in
shape (star-shaped cells).
Image 59: A microscopic image of a bone tissue with

10x magnification. We can notice a big hole in the
bone cell system, the Haversian canal, which helps
the flow of nutrients, along with the little holes
(canaliculi), in and out of the cell.
Image Courtesy: med.libretexts.org
e) Fluid connective tissues: As the name

indicates, the connective tissue is fluid and
travels through various parts of the body. There
are two types of fluid connective tissues:
1. Blood: Blood is a colloidal
solution of plasma, water, some
proteins, dissolved gases and
some organic and inorganic
solutes. The matrix is liquid
rather than solid or semi-solid in
nature.
Image 60: A microscopic overview of a typical blood

tissue mixed with lymph cells.
Image Courtesy: courses.lumenlearning.com
2. Lymph: It is a colourless fluid,

similar in composition to blood,
except the red stuff of the blood
is gone. It’s chiefly composed of

plasma and leucocytes (not to
be confused with leucoplasts, a
type of plastid). There are many
types of leucocytes, like
neutrophils, eosinophils,
basophils, lymphocytes,
platelets, monocytes and
erythrocytes. Lymph is
responsible in the excretory
system and the immune system.
Image 61: The types of lymph cells in the human

body.
Image Courtesy: cancer.gov

Next up are the nervous tissues, the main
communications centre of an organism. It senses
stimuli and transmits the signal from one part to
another part of the body. The nerve cell, or the
neuron, is the longest cell of any multicellular
organism.
• Neuron: The overall structure of a neuron is
very complicated yet delicate in nature. It
consists of the main cell body with the nucleus
and stuff (cyton) and a narrow rod extending
from the cyton till the neuron’s ending (axon).
The cyton gets the signal from hair-like stuff
called dendrites and transmits the signal down
the axon to the axon terminal. The signals are
created by electric impulses which travel at high
speeds.

Image 62: A detailed diagram of a nerve cell along
with the cyton, nodes and the dendrites.
Image Courtesy: thoughtco.com
So, we are done with all the major types of tissues

known to mankind. Let’s move two steps down
(ignoring the organ systems because the book would
be too detailed), the organisms themselves.
--------------------------------------------------------------
“Biodiversity starts in the distant past and it

points toward the future.”- Frans Ponting

Biodiversity- The Key to
Evolution
“It is that range of biodiversity that we must care
for- the whole thing- rather than just one or two
stars.” -David Attenborough
Let’s imagine a real-life scenario to start this chapter.

In your lifetime, you may have saw different types of
flies, like houseflies, dragonflies, mayflies and so on.
They all are different in shape yet they have one
common property – they fly. This is one of the basic
fundamentals in classifying organisms into different
groups.
Attempts to classification began since the geeky
Greeks, thanks to Aristotle, who put his feet in literally
every subject. Other people like Pliny the Elder and
Theophrastus laid the foundation of bio-classification.
Their theorem was that we can separate organisms
on the basis of where they lived, that is, whether the
organism lives in air, water or land. Obviously, such a
system is faulty as there can be organisms which live
on both the domains of habitats. A good example
can be amphibians. Now, what are amphibians?

Amphibians are the organisms which are able to
thrive in both water and land, which obviously puts us
into a problem as to where to classify the
amphibians. Frogs, toads, salamanders and newts
are some organisms which form the family of
amphibians.
Image 63: Salamanders, newts, toads and frogs form

a major part of the biological family Amphibia.
Image Courtesy: en.wikipedia.org, livescience.com,
nwf.org, kids.nationalgeographic.com

A second classification emerged in the 18th century
(1758, to be precise), under the banner of the
famous biologist Carolus Linnaeus (to be discussed
later too). He proposed two big kingdoms- Kingdom
Plantae and Kingdom Animalia (“Plantae” for plants
and “Animalia” for animals). At the first, this system
faced no opposition from the scientific community.
But then, we began to notice some organisms which
were plant looking but ate like an animal (fungus) or
an animal looking organism but synthesises food
from sunlight (protists like Euglena). Such organisms
marked out from both the kingdoms and the two-
kingdom classification fell down quickly. Blame your
mushroom soup for that.
A modification to Linnaeus’ classification appeared in
1866, by Ernest Haeckel (he did not hack bodies
during his time, I assure you). He proposed a three-
kingdom classification – Kingdom Plantae (plants),
Kingdom Animalia (animals) and Kingdom Protista
(unicellular plants and animals). Now, all the weirdo
fungi and protists could be placed in the Kingdom
Protista. Everyone thought that they had cracked the
problem of classification.
Or was it? Fast-forward to the year 1956, where

Herbert Copeland found out that bacteria and its
related organisms are different than those of the

Kingdom Protista. Basically, what we are trying to say
is, bacteria are prokaryotic and protists are
eukaryotic. So, Copeland created a new kingdom
called as Monera for the bacteria-related stuff.
Finally, we have the last attempt on bio-classification
and this is the classification we accept these days. In
1969, a biologist named Robert Harding Whittaker
proposed a five-kingdom system. The kingdoms are-
Kingdom Monera (bacterial stuff), Kingdom Protista
(unicellular eukaryotic organisms), Kingdom Fungi
(for the mushrooms and stuff), Kingdom Plantae (for
plants) and Kingdom Animalia (for animals).
The next thing which came to the biologists’ mind

was that how to differentiate two varieties of the same
thing. For example, a rose is typically red in colour
with some spiky thorns around its stem. There are
many other roses, like the Dog-rose, Multiflora rose,
French Rose and so on. To differentiate between all
these similar-looking yet different species, we have
come with a particular nomenclature. Remember we
used to define new covalent compounds in the
chapters “Carbon’s Army of Compounds-1” and
“Carbon’s Army of Compounds- 2” on the basis of
number of carbon atoms, functional groups, type of
bond and so on. The art of naming stuff on the basis
of some rules is called nomenclature.

Coming back to the biologists, they needed a system
to differentiate between the local varieties and the
real varieties. Our good man, Carolus Linnaeus, came
up with a simple system. In this system, each
organism is provided with two words, a generic name
and the specific name. So, if I wanted to differentiate
between a jaguar and a leopard, I can simply write
their common genus, which is, Panthera (a genus of
nasty, big cats) and combine it with their specific
names, pardus for leopard and onca for jaguar.
Combining these two, we get the leopard’s name as
Panthera pardus and the jaguar’s name as Panthera
onca. Note that both the generic and specific names
are usually Latin and the generic name starts with a
capital letter and the specific name follows the
generic name, starting from a small letter. This
system, proposed by dear Linnaeus, is called
taxonomy.
Another key thing in bio-diversity is the hierarchy of
taxonomy. It is a system of classification in which
taxonomic categories are placed in order of a logical
sequence. The sequence is as follows:

Kingdom
Phlyum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species
• Species: It is the lowest category in the

taxonomical pyramid. They include a group of
individuals which resemble closely in structure
as well as functions.
• Genus: It’s a group of closely related species
with common ancestry, form a genus. For
example, a collection of bears with distinct
characteristics comes under the genus Ursus.

Image 64: The genus Ursus contains many types of
bears like the grizzly bear, the polar bear and so on.
• Family: A number of genera (plural for genus)

having common factors, are grouped as a
family. The genus Ursus comes under the family
Ursidae which also contains giant pandas.

Image 65: The family Ursidae contains bears and the
distantly-related giant panda.
• Order: A number of families having some

common factors, are grouped as in an order.
The family Ursidae comes under the order
Carnivora, which stands for carnivorous animals.
(Note: Even though most bears are
omnivorous, we consider most omnivorous
animals in the order Carnivora.)

Image 66: The order Carnivora contains families of
different kinds of organisms, like jaguars, walruses,
hyena, wolf, racoon, bears and so on. Basically, the
order Carnivora contains animals which eat meat
only.
• Class: A number of orders which have common

factors are classified into one class. The order
Carnivora is a part of the bigger class,
mammals, or simply class Mammalia.

Image 67: The class Mammalia contains organisms
like wolfs, kangaroos, squirrels, humans, zebras,
pandas, bears, deers, pangolin, sea otters, elephants,
moles, whales and so on. Basically, the class
Mammalia contains organisms which do not
originate from an egg and can feed their babies with
their own milk.
• Phylum: Many classes with common

characteristics combine to form a phylum. The
order Mammalia is a part of the bigger phylum
Chordata (Chordata means that the organism
has some support to maintain its body organs,
it may be bones or flexible cartilage.).
• Kingdom: It is the highest category of the
taxonomical pyramid. Remember the five-type
classification we did earlier? Monera for
bacterial stuff, Plantae for plant stuff, Animalia
for animal stuff, Protista for protist stuff and
Fungi for fungus stuff? These are classified as
the five major kingdoms of taxonomy. In our
“bear” case, the phylum Chordata comes under
the kingdom Animalia, which is to say, animals.

Image 68: The kingdom Animalia contains both
vertebrates and invertebrates like tigers, bears,
ocelots, chameleon, snakes, frogs, ducks, octopuses,
humming birds and so on.
Image Courtesy: tutorialspoint.com
Now let’s move to the main details of each kingdom

roughly because it will take ages for me to describe
the whole kingdom, which also includes its families,
orders, classes, phylum, genera, species and the
whole taxonomic classification of the kingdom.
Let’s start with the most basic kingdom, Monera. As
we discussed earlier, the kingdom Monera contains
unicellular prokaryotic organisms like bacteria,

archaebacteria, cyanobacteria, mycoplasma and so
on. It is said that they were the first signs of life to
originate life on Earth and have not changed much
since then. Some organisms in Monera have a cell
wall made up of a complex molecule called as
peptidoglycan. They have a lack of proper cell
organelles, that is, they are mostly prokaryotic in
nature. Organisms like blue-green algae can
synthesise food from the sun while others depend on
other organisms, that is they are heterotrophic in
nature.
Image 69: Different types of bacteria constitute in

the kingdom Monera.
Image Courtesy:
kingdomsmidtermproject.weebly.com

The next kingdom we are going to discuss is the
kingdom Protista, which includes unicellular
eukaryotic organisms. It includes organisms like
Amoeba, Trypanosoma, Giardia, Paramecium and so
on. They have well-defined organelles which are
membrane-bound. They also have some
adaptabilities which help in their locomotion, such as
developing a flagellum (tail-kind of thing) or some
cilia (hair-like stuff around the organelle).

Image 70: Different types of protists form the
kingdom Protista.
Next up is Kingdom Plantae, which contains

multicellular photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms,
aka plants. They can produce their own food, with
carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to produce their
food, with the exception of carnivorous plants, which
thrive on small animals like flies and cockroaches.
The cells have a cell wall made from cellulose and
hemicellulose. Most plants are rooted to the surface,
with the exception of floating water plants found in
fresh waters or seas. The growth of the plant is
indefinite (unless you chop it down), and new organs
are continuously added throughout its lifespan.

Image 71: Different kinds of plants form the kingdom
Plantae.

The second-last kingdom we are going to discuss is
kingdom Fungi. This kingdom contains organisms
whose entire structure is not divided into root, stem
and leaves. They can be both unicellular (like yeast),
and multicellular (like mushrooms) and have a cell
wall made up of chitin. Fungi obtain their food either
from dead animal and plant matter (saprophytes) or
from other living organisms (parasites).
Image 71: Different kinds of fungus form the kingdom

Fungi.

The last kingdom we are going to discuss is perhaps
the most complicated of the all, Kingdom Animalia.
All the organisms are eukaryotic and some are
unicellular but most are multicellular. They can live in
the air, water, land or can be a mix of the any three
factors. They can have tissue organisation (found in
simple organisms like sponges) or organ-system
organisation (from worms to animals). Animals have
different ways to move from one place to another,
spiders have long, slender legs; birds fly with their
wings; fishes swim with their fins and so on. The
animals are either oviparous (egg -laying animals) or
viviparous (they give birth to the young one). All
animals are heterotrophic, that is, they are
dependent on other sources for food. On the basis of
food, they can be divided into herbivores (plant-
eating animals, like cows), carnivores (animal-eating
animals like lions), omnivores (they eat both plants
and animals, like humans) and scavengers (they feed
on the dead remains of animals, like vulture).

Image 72: Different kinds of animals form the
kingdom Animalia.
Image Courtesy: inaturalist.org
So we are done with all the factors for life to exist. We

went through galaxies, compounds, cell organelles,
the early solar system, humongous stars, tissues and

finally organisms, which obviously includes us
humans. But what do these factors mean when we
cannot co-relate them with other?
It’s time…to connect the dots.
--------------------------------------------------------------
“Collecting the dots. Then connecting them.

And then sharing the connections with those
around you. This is how a creative human
works.” – Amanda Palmer

Joining the Dots…
(summary too)
“You can’t connect the dots by looking forward,
you can only connect them by looking
backwards.” – Steve Jobs
The time has come…for this blabber-mouth to tell
you why he has been blabbing nonsense stuff to you
innocent readers.
Starting off with our first chapter, “The Rise and Fall of
a Star”, we discussed that there are many types of
stars and how they rise and how they die. But the
dying of stars depends upon the mass of the star. If
the mass of the star is too big, it will form gravity’s
fortress of doom, a black hole. If it is a moderate
heavy star, it may form a neutron star after a
spectacular supernova. If it’s a small star, we have a
white dwarf which is composed of the core elements
of the previous star. Plus, if there is any extra matter
which is not consumed by the star, they form planets
which are composed of the previous star’s
compositive elements. So, it is wise to say that we all
are made from stardust (according to Carl Sagan).

In the next chapter, “The Biggest Nuclear Reactor- A
Star”, we saw how a star creates the elements
mentioned in chapter 1. We saw many types of
nuclear reactions and saw how the elements help
together to form new elements (By the way, scientists
are using this cool hack to create synthetic
radioactive elements like Oganesson). When the star
dies, it creates a concentric circle of elements from
hydrogen to iron and when the star goes ka-boom,
all the matter is expulsed into space. The planets are
formed from these elements only, for example, the
Earth.
In the third chapter, “Spectroscopy- The Art of
Elements”, we saw how various elements show
various spectra in the spectral analyser. With this
method we can finally detect what element has a
major fraction in the star/planet/nebula/galaxy
system.
In the fourth chapter, “What is an Atom?”, we
discussed what is an atom, what it is composed of,
what are the inherent properties which differentiate
one element from another. We also threw some
formulas to work out the problems given.
In the fifth chapter, “Element to Compound- An
Upgrade”, we saw how elements form compounds
using two methods: ionic compounds and covalent
compounds. We saw that, in ionic compounds, the

valencies of the constituents play a key role in the
formation of the compound. There were two types of
ions- cations and anions. A table was given for the
valencies of various cations and anions. Next, we saw
how a covalent bond works, along with the
complexities involved in it. Next, we discussed the
difference between ionic compounds and covalent
compounds, and noticed that both of them are very
similar both physically and chemically.
In the sixth chapter, “Carbon’s Army of Compounds–
1”, we saw how carbon plays a pivotal role in the
formation of various covalent compounds due to its
critical position of either losing four electrons are
gaining four electrons to complete its valence shell.
We then saw what were hydrocarbons and the
different types of them. We explored different
configurations of the same compound and saw that
even though they were chemically the same, but they
varied a lot structurally.
In the seventh chapter, “Carbon’s Army of
Compounds- 2”, we saw how fundamental groups
combine together to form exotic compounds which
have a high-position in our day-to-day activities.
In the eight chapter, “The Early Solar System”, we saw
that the proposal of extra matter of the dead star was
true in the case of the solar system. We saw how the
sun used to be unstable, what we now call as a

“protosun”. We saw more complex compounds like
vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and other complex
stuff.
In the eighth chapter, “Cell- The Biological Atom- 1”,
we saw how these complex compounds mentioned
in the previous compounds form together in perfect
coordination to form a cell. We saw that cells come in
various shapes and sizes, ranging from nerve cells to
an egg of an ostrich. Mainly, cells are divided on the
basis of whether they have a well-defined nucleus
and organelles, that is, they are divided into
prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
In the ninth chapter, “Cell- The Biological Atom – 2”,
we saw, in detail, about the organelles in each type of
cell, both prokaryotic and eukaryotic. We also saw
that when these organelles work in perfect co-
ordination, then only the cell can function properly.
In the tenth chapter, “Tissues- The Backbone of Bio-
functions”, we saw that a tissue is made up of a group
of cells working together. Like with cells, tissues were
also divided into plant and animal tissues. We went
across a perilous journey about various kinds of
tissues, from bones to skin, we covered it all.
In the last chapter, “Biodiversity- The Key to
Evolution”, we saw that these tissues form organs,
which form an organism. We saw how scientists

laboriously tried to separate each of the organisms
into separate groups, what we now call as kingdoms.
Next, we saw Linnaeus’ taxonomy which showed us
that we can compare one animal with an another on
the basis of any one factor, be it the genus, the
family, the order, the class or the kingdom. We saw
the properties of each kingdom roughly (so to not
waste your precious time) and saw how each
kingdom has its similarities and differences.
So, to summarise the whole book in one paragraph,
it would look like this:
“When a star dies, it explodes the matter inside it to
the outer universe. If some matter is left which is not
engulfed by the new star, it becomes a planet. The
elements are formed in the form of nuclear reactions
held inside the star. Then, we saw that the elements
have some distinct properties which define them
their own identity. The elements form compounds in
two ways- ionic and covalent. We saw that the
element carbon occupies a critical position in the
formation of covalent compounds because of its
electron shell. Most covalent compounds are made
from carbon and hydrogen, also called
hydrocarbons. These covalent bonds go further to
form even complex bonds, creating important
molecules like cellulose, glucose, proteins and so on.
These compounds work together to form the cell.

The cell has many organelles which help it to sustain
itself. These cells come together to form a tissue. A
tissue is responsible for the activities happening
inside the organism. These tissues form organs,
which in turn, makes an organism. The organisms
contribute to the food cycle, hence preserving the
nature of life. We now realise the role of carbon and
how it plays a vital role in sustaining life on Earth.
Thus, if we want to find a planet “B”, we must first find
the amount of carbon and oxygen in it, by using
spectroscopy. Obviously, it is too hard to go through
the data from millions of star-planet systems, so we
must strive to protect this delicate planet we have in
our hands. Reduce climate change. Reduce carbon
emissions. Reduce plastics. Then only we will able to
make this planet a better place to live.”
So…we come to an end of a glorious saga of science,
only to realise that finding a planet “B” is tough, but
saving our planet Earth is a more viable solution. We,
as a responsible citizen of the globe, should strive to
achieve these goals to protect our future.

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The Rise and Fall of a Star

“Everything that has a beginning has an

See, apparently in the ancient times, they thought the

Image 1: This is RCW86, the oldest recorded

1 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Image 2: This is the Crab Nebula, one of the prehistoric nebulae,

2 | Carbon: The Element of Life

This cycle sort of applies to stars. We see that the star

3 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Image 3: This is Sirius A, one of the brightest stars in the night

4 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Image 4: This is Arcturus, a red giant. It proposed

5 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Image 5: This is Betelgeuse, a red supergiant. It is said that this

6 | Carbon: The Element of Life

7 | Carbon: The Element of Life

8 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Image 8: A supernova ejecting the elements of the previous star.

There is a limit called as the Chandrasekhar Limit. It

9 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Image 9: This is the Crab Pulsar, a relatively young

A black hole is a body is a region in space (or should I

10 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Anyways, when we are dealing with life, we often look

“The mind that opens a new idea never

11 | Carbon: The Element of Life

1. Nuclear Fission: It is basically saying that a

12 | Carbon: The Element of Life

2. Nuclear Fusion: It is basically saying that we

13 | Carbon: The Element of Life

The star’s primary energy source is hydrogen. Since

14 | Carbon: The Element of Life

The star undergoes from helium to other relatively

15 | Carbon: The Element of Life

When the fusion reaches carbon, a new cycle starts.

16 | Carbon: The Element of Life

When it reaches oxygen, if forms new elements in

17 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Applying the theory of death of stars in the previous

“In the midst of darkness, light persists.”- Mahatma

18 | Carbon: The Element of Life

19 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Element Emission spectrum Absorption spectrum

But how to read these images? You have to look in

20 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Image 17: This is NGC 604, a H II region in the Triangulum Galaxy.

21 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Persistence is to the character of man as

22 | Carbon: The Element of Life

The negative charge is being provided by the

24 | Carbon: The Element of Life

25 | Carbon: The Element of Life

Number of electrons = Number of protons

There are many things that define an atom. Here are

27 | Carbon: The Element of Life

28 | Carbon: The Element of Life

29 | Carbon: The Element of Life

“Success is little more than a compound of

30 | Carbon: The Element of Life

31 | Carbon: The Element of Life

To look at the technical picture, the atom that is

32 | Carbon: The Element of Life

35 | Carbon: The Element of Life

37 | Carbon: The Element of Life