BIO206H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Atomic Nucleus, Atomic Number, Ionic Bonding
Document Summary
The chemistry of life is based o carbon compounds. It depends on chemical reactions that take place in watery or aqueous solutions and in the relatively narrow range of temperatures experienced on. It is enormously complex and is dominated and coordinated by a collection of enormous polymeric molecules whose unique properties enable organisms to grow and reproduce. The polymeric molecules form from chains of chemical subunits linked end- to-end. It is tightly regulated; cells deploy a variety of mechanisms to make sure that all their chemical reactions occur at the proper place and time. Matter is made of combinations of elements. Elements are substances that cannot be broken down or converted into other substances by chemical means. The smallest particle of an element that still retains its distinctive properties is an atom. The characteristic of substances other than pure elements depends on the atoms they contain and the way these atoms are linked together in groups to form molecules.
