Monday, September 21, 2015

Unit 2 Reflection

This unit was about an introduction to chemistry for biologists. We learned a lot about the anatomy of an atom, learning about the positiveness of protons and how electrons circled around the atom's nucleus, able to be shared or taken from other atoms and/or elements. Things like this was the easiest for me to learn about, mainly because I had already learned and memorized their functions and structure in eighth grade. I also knew a little about macromolecules, such as carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acid, and proteins, but I did not know nearly as many details as what was taught in class. We learned about how carbs can join together to form rings. Monosaccharides have one rings, disaccharides have two rings, and polysaccharides have three or more.
Lipids make up cell membranes and are used to make hormones and for energy storage. Lipids break bonds between carbon and hydrogen to get energy when glucose is running low.
Proteins are large molecules made of smaller molecules called amino acids. There are two types of proteins. Structural proteins are the building blocks of bodies. Some examples of structural proteins are hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in blood, muscle proteins, which make up muscles, and collagen, which is the most abundant protein in your body. It is in skin, tendons, cartilage, bone, and more.
Enzymes are the other type proteins. Enzymes make chemical reactions happen; they break molecules apart or pule molecules together.
I want to learn more about disease in the body, how it is treated, and what happens when it is not.

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