CLOZE-Life and Chemistry
Life and Chemistry:
Small Molecules
Life and Chemistry: Small Molecules
• Water and the Origin of Life's Chemistry
• Atoms: The ________ of Matter
• Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Chemical Reactions: Atoms Change Partners
• Water: Structure and Properties
• Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale
• Properties of Molecules
Water and the Origin of Life's Chemistry
• The earliest ________ signatures of life on Earth are about 4 billion years
old.
• The presence of water, possibly brought by comets striking the Earth, was
critical in making conditions suitable for life.
• Environmental conditions conducive to life evolved during the ________ period.
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• All matter is composed of atoms.
• Each atom consists of at least one ________ and one electron.
• Atoms have mass. The mass comes mostly from the proton and a neutrally charged
body called a neutron.
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• Each ________ contains only one type of atom.
• Information on elements is arranged in logical order in a table called the
periodic table.
• The periodic table arranges elements left to right based on their atomic
number, and in columns based on similarities in their properties.
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• Each element has a unique atomic number which is the number of protons found
in an atom of the element.
• The mass ________ is the number of protons plus the number of neutrons.
• The mass number is used as the ________ of the atom, in units called daltons.
• Each element has a unique symbol: H is hydrogen, C is carbon, Na is sodium,
and Fe is iron.
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• All atoms of an element have the same number of protons, but not necessarily
the same number of neutrons.
• Atoms of the same element that have different atomic weights are
called________ .
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• Some isotopes are radioisotopes, which emit energy as alpha, beta, and gamma
radiation from their nuclei.
• Radioactive decay transforms the original atom into another atom, usually of
another element.
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• The region in which an electron travels is called the electron's orbital.
• The orbitals constitute a series of electron shells, or energy levels, around
the nucleus.
• Two electrons at most can occupy each orbital.
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• The first shell is the innermost shell and has just one orbital, called the s
orbital.
• The s orbital fills first and its electrons have the lowest energy.
• The second shell is next closest to the nucleus and has one s and three p
orbitals.
• The second shell can accommodate eight electrons, two per orbital.
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• The outermost shell of an atom determines how it ________ with other atoms.
• Generally, if eight electrons are in the outer shell, the atom is stable and
does not tend to react.
• Atoms which do not have eight electrons in the outermost shell will share,
gain, or lose electrons to arrive at a stable state.
Atoms: The Constituents of Matter
• The tendency of atoms to be stable when they have eight electrons in their
outermost shells is called the rule of eight, or the ________ rule.
• Hydrogen and ________ are exceptions to the octet rule.
Animation 2.1 Chemical Bond Formation
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• A molecule is two or more atoms bonded together.
• A chemical bond is an attractive force that links two atoms together.
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• A ________ bond is formed by sharing of a pair of electrons between two atoms.
• In hydrogen molecules (H2), a pair of electrons share a common orbital and
spend equal amounts of time around each of the two nuclei.
• The nuclei stay some distance from each other due to mutually repelling
positive charges.
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Molecules made up of more than one type of atoms are called compounds.
• Every ________ has a molecular weight that is the sum of all atoms in the
molecule.
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Covalent bonds are very strong.
• Each covalent bond has a predictable length, angle, and direction, which makes
it possible to predict the ________ structures of molecules.
• A double covalent bond occurs when atoms share two pairs of electrons; in
triple covalent bonds atoms share three electron pairs.
Video 2.1 Methane: A three dimensional model
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Electrons are not always shared equally between covalently bonded atoms.
• The attractive force that an atom exerts on electrons is called
electronegativity.
• When a molecule has nuclei with different electronegativities, an electron
spends most of its time around the nucleus with the ________ electronegativity.
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Unequal sharing of electrons causes a partial negative charge around the more
electronegative atom, and a partial ________ charge around the less
electronegative atom, resulting in a polar covalent bond.
• Molecules that have polar covalent bonds are called ________ molecules.
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Hydrogen bonds may form within or between atoms with polar covalent bonds.
• The d– portion of one molecule has a weak attraction to the d+ portion of
another molecule. Each of these attractions is called a hydrogen bond.
• Hydrogen bonds do not share electrons.
• Although hydrogen bonds are weak, they tend to be ________ and they are of
profound biological importance.
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Ionic bonds involve a complete ________ of one or more electrons.
• Ions are formed when an atom loses or gains electrons.
• Positively charged ions are called cations.
• Negatively charged ions are called anions.
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Ionic bonds are formed by the electrical attraction between ions with opposite
charges.
• Table salt has chloride and sodium ions, held together by ionic bonds.
• When salt is introduced into water, the partial charges of the water molecules
can easily interfere with the ionic bonds.
Chemical Bonds: Linking Atoms Together
• Polar molecules tend to be ________
Substances that are ionic or polar often dissolve in water due to hydrogen
bonds.
• Nonpolar molecules are called ________ because they tend to aggregate with
other nonpolar molecules.
• Nonpolar molecules are also attracted to each other via relatively weak
attractions called van der Waals forces.
Chemical Reactions: Atoms Change Partners
• Chemical reactions occur when atoms combine or change partners.
• In a chemical reaction, reactants are converted to products.
• A chemical reaction can be written as an equation. The equation must balance
because matter is neither created nor destroyed.
Chemical Reactions: Atoms Change Partners
• Changes in energy usually accompany chemical reactions.
• Stored energy, such as that in chemical bonds, is called potential energy and
is available for future use.
• We can measure the potential energy of molecules and express it in units of
heat called calories.
• A calorie is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram
of pure water from 14.5̊C to 15.5̊C.
Water: Structure and Properties
• Due to its shape, polarity, and ability to form hydrogen bonds, water has some
unusual properties.
Water: Structure and Properties
• Ice is held in a ________ structure by the orientation of water molecules'
hydrogen bonds.
• Each molecule forms hydrogen bonds with four other molecules.
• These four hydrogen bonds increase the space the water molecules take up, so
water expands as it freezes, and ice is less dense than liquid water.
• For these reasons, ice floats in liquid water.
Water: Structure and Properties
• Compared to other nonmetallic substances, ice requires a lot of heat to melt
because hydrogen bonds must be broken.
• The opposite process, freezing, requires water to lose a great deal of heat.
Water: Structure and Properties
• A great deal of heat energy is required to change the temperature of liquid
water because the hydrogen bonds must be broken.
• Specific heat is the number of calories needed to raise one gram of a
substance 1oC. The specific heat of liquid water is 1.
• Liquid water has a higher specific heat than most other small molecules in
liquid form.
Water: Structure and Properties
• The heat of ________ is the amount of heat needed to change a substance from
its liquid state to its gaseous state.
• A lot of heat is required to change water to a gaseous state because the
hydrogen bonds of the liquid water must be broken.
• Evaporation has a cooling effect by absorbing calories.
• Condensing has the opposite effect, releasing heat.
Water: Structure and Properties
• Water has a ________ strength because of hydrogen bonds.
• The cohesive strength of water molecules allows the transport of water from
the roots to the tops of trees.
• Water has high surface tension, which means that the surface of liquid water
is relatively difficult to puncture.
Water: Structure and Properties
• Water is the ________ of life.
• Living organisms are over 70 percent water by weight and many reactions take
place in this watery environment.
• A solution is a substance (the solute) dissolved in a liquid (the solvent).
Water: Structure and Properties
• Reactions that take place in aqueous solutions may be studied in two ways:
§ Qualitative analysis is the study of substances dissolved in a solvent and
their reactions.
§ Quantitative analysis measures the amounts of substances and solvents.
Water: Structure and Properties
• The ________ concept is fundamental to quantitative analysis. A mole is the
amount of a substance in grams whose weight is equal to its molecular weight.
• One mole of any given compound contains approximately 6.03 x 10^23 molecules
of that compound (Avogadro's number).
Water: Structure and Properties
• A 1 molar (1 M) solution is one mole of a compound dissolved in water to make
one liter.
• Example: One mole of NaCl is the atomic weight of Na (23) plus the atomic
weight of Cl (35.5), or 58.5, in grams. When 58.5 grams of NaCl are dissolved in
water to make one liter, the solution is 1 molar.
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale
• Some substances dissolve in water and release hydrogen ions (H+); these are
called acids. Their release is called ionization.
• Other substances dissolve in water and release hydroxide ions (OH–); these are
called bases.
• Acids donate H+; bases accept H+.
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale
• Acids release H+ ions in solution.
• If the reaction is complete, it is a strong acid, such as HCl.
• The carboxyl group (—COOH) is common in biological compounds. It functions as
an acid because
§ —COOH ® —COO– + H+
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale
• Bases accept H+ in solution.
• NaOH ionizes completely to Na+ and OH–. The OH– absorbs H+ to form water. It
is a strong base.
• The amino group (—NH2) is an important part of many biological compounds; it
functions as a weak base by accepting H+:
§ —NH2 + H+ ® —(NH3)+
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale
• Ionization of strong acids is virtually irreversible.
• Ionization of weak acids and bases is somewhat reversible.
• Many large molecules in biological systems contain weak acid or base groups.
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale
• Water is really a weak acid and has a slight tendency to ionize into H+ and
OH–.
• This ionization is very important for living creatures and the chemical
reactions they must perform because the H+ ion is so reactive.
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale
• pH is the measure of hydrogen ion concentration.
• It is defined as the negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration in
moles per liter.
• The pH scale indicates the strength of a solution of an acid or base. The
scale values range from 1 through 14.
• A pH 7 means the concentration of hydrogen ions is 1 x 10–7 moles per liter of
water.
Acids, Bases, and the pH Scale
• A buffer is a mixture of a weak acid and its corresponding base.
• Because buffers can react with both added bases and acids, they make the
overall solution resistant to pH change.
• Buffers illustrate the law of ________ action:
§ Addition of reactants to one side of a reaction drives the reaction in the
direction that uses that component.
Properties of Molecules
• Chemists use the characteristics of composition, structure, reactivity, and
solubility to help classify molecules.
• Two other properties that influence the behavior of molecules are the presence
of recognizable ________ groups, and the existence of ________ of molecules.
Properties of Molecules
• Functional groups give specific properties to molecules.
• Functional groups are covalently bonded to organic molecules.
• Amino acids are biological molecules that contain both a carboxyl group and an
amino group.
Properties of Molecules
• Isomers are molecules that have the same chemical formula but different
arrangements of the atoms.
• Structural isomers differ in terms of how atoms are joined together.
• Optical isomers are mirror images of each other.
• Optical isomers can occur whenever a carbon has four different atoms or groups
attached to it.
Video 2.2 L-cysteine and D-cysteine: Three-dimensional models