Organic Molecules Wrap up

 Friday was a day to wrap up all the organic chemistry activities we went through this week.  You turned in the "How to be like Rocky" questions, the corrections of the four students and their description of organic compounds, and finally worked through a concept map.  My plan is for Monday to go through enzymes, Tuesday lab, Wednesday wrap up enzymes, Thursday review and Friday exam!  We'll see how it goes!

How to be like Rocky questions (not the write up yet)

Evaluation of students

How to be like Rocky!

We are wrapping up this section on organic compounds and I feel that we have FINALLY got to a point where I am comfortable moving on.  This whole chapter on the chemistry of life is CRUCIAL to understanding the rest of this year.  If you recall in the "Crash Course" Hank Green stated that in order to understand Biology you HAVE to have at least a general knowledge of the chemistry behind it.  We did not have daily questions the last two days - Tuesday we had an open notes quiz and Wednesday we started into a an activity (which I will include in its own post)  Today we DID have a set of three daily questions that are sample questions from the Keystone exam.  Here they were

Letters A and B are best represented by which row in the chart?

Row	Metabolic Activity A	B
1	Respiration	Oxygen molecules
2	Reproduction	Hormone Molecules
3	Excretion	Simple Sugar Molecules
4	Digestion	Amino Acid Molecules

Many of you right away decided that you had no idea what this was even asking.  After taking a step back and seeing that all that is really required here was knowing what proteins are made up of, many of you were able to quickly see that the answer was #4 - The process would be digestion and the Smaller molecules would be amino acids.

Which statement concerning simple sugars and amino acids is correct?

1.  They are both wastes resulting from protein synthesis

2. They are both building blocks of starch

3.  They are both needed for the synthesis of larger molecules

4.  They are both stored as fat molecules in the liver.

 When I had you all give me a number, many gave the number two.  Number two is incorrect because while simple sugars are the building blocks of starch, amino acids are not.  Amino acids recall are the building blocks of proteins.   So #3 is the most accurate answer in saying that they are both  needed for the synthesis (creation of) larger molecules.

Which row would best complete the lettered blanks in the two sentences below?

    Organic Compounds such as proteins and starches are too _A_ to diffuse into cells.  Proteins are digested into _B_ and starches are digested into _C_.

row	A	B	C
1	Large	Simple Sugars	Amino Acids
2	Small	Simple sugars	Amino acids
3	Large	Amino acids	Simple sugars
4	Small	Amino acids	Simple sugars

Row 3 most accurately fills in the blanks.  Remember, all the organic compounds we have been talking about are very large (MACROmolecules) so right away you should have narrowed it to either number 1 or 3, then it was a matter of remembering what the subunits of proteins and starches are.  Again - as with the other questions from today - Proteins are made up of amino acids, starches are made up of simple sugars.

After going through these - we then looked at two clips from Rocky and analyzed what was correct and incorrect about his training regime based on our understanding of organic compounds and their functions.  We will continue with this activity tomorrow. See another post with more details on this assignment!

Open Notes Quiz and Chemistry of Health Work

No daily questions today, we moved right in to the open notes quiz.  This quiz was a combination of just listing what you had in your notes, answering sample keystone exam questions and infering the function of different organic molecules based on their structures (remember, the structure and function of these molecules go HAND IN HAND!!)

After the quiz I had you continue in the "Chemistry of Health" Book that begins to put this all together in terms of what is happening in our bodies and how it relates to different career fields.  (Medicine, pharmaceuticals  naturalists, etc.)  Tomorrow and Thursday I am looking to do some different "activities" related to organic chemistry so hold on tight!!!

Can you believe we are already HALF WAY through the first nine weeks?!?!?  Great job guys - keep up the good work :)

Organic Chemistry Wrap up - How this correlates with our health.

Monday September 24^th

Proteins have MANY different functions in our bodies.  What role does hemoglobin have in our bodies?

 Carries Oxygen in our blood throughout our body.

What main protein make up our hair and nails?

 Alpha Keratin

What do enzymes aid in?

 Biochemical Reactions

Nucleic Acids are made up of what kind of monomer?

 Nucleotides 

This monomer has three parts – what are they?

 A Sugar, A Base and A Phosphate group

What are two important functions of Nucleic acids?

Carry Hereditary information (such as in DNA and RNA), Act as energy carriers (In the form of ATP)

After these daily questions, we discussed any of the notes we had not finished and then I had you guys working in the "Chemistry of Health" booklet.  This was a way to see how all we have been learning relates back to how our bodies function.  We will continue with this after the open notes quiz tomorrow.

Organic Chemistry Daily Questions and DQQ

Friday September 21^st 

Proteins are made up of what kind of subunits?

Amino Acids 

Proteins are very complex and their functions are very diverse – what about proteins determines their function?

Their SHAPE - How the amino acids are folded on top of each other directly determines what they are able to do. 

Here is a molecule of Hemoglobin - See how there are many
different folds in this - We will see in future chapters how
even a TINY change in the amino acid sequence can
 DRASTICALLY Change it's function

The last organic molecules we will be looking at are Nucleic acids – what are two examples of Nucleic Acids?

DNA and RNA (N.A. stands for Nucleic Acid)

After going through these daily questions, I gave you guys some time to look over the notes/daily questions on organic chemistry and we took the Daily Question quiz.  Those classes that still needed to get down the rest of the notes did so.  Keep in mind, I am planning another open notes quiz for probably Tuesday or Wednesday of next week so make sure you are caught up in your notes!!!

These were different Examples of Proteins found in our bodies.  I asked that you put three examples in yournotes - only the heading and the underlined portions of "Hair and Nails", "Blood", and
That Enzymes Aid in biochemical reactions.

Steroids Jello and Cow Bones - what will we do in this class next?!!

Thursday September 20^th

Carbohydrates are made up of what three elements in what ratio?

Carbon:Hydrogen:Oxygen in a 1:2:1 ratio (remember - Carbohydrate literally means the Hydrate (Water) of carbon.  For every carbon atom there is APPROXIMATELY one Water molecule (H2O)  I say approximately because this is just a RATIO, it will not only be exact (like the example Below)

 Other than a source of energy – what other function do carbohydrates have?

They act as structural support such as Cellulose providing structure to plants and Chitin making up the shells of crabs/lobsters and certain insects.  Carbohydrates are also key in cellular recognition.  They act as "name tags" on the outside of cells that are unique to the type of cell and the type of organism.  (Which is why organ transplants can be difficult to find matches for)

 Which can store more energy Carbohydrates or lipids? Why?

Lipids.  Energy is stored in chemical bonds and is released when bonds are broken.  There are MORE C-H bonds in lipids than in carbohydrates so they can STORE more energy.  It is harder to get to the energy found in lipids though because we first have to "burn" through our carbohydrate stores

Looking the following chemical formulas, what kind of biomolecules would you infer each to be?  

C₁₉H₂₈O₂                                

_{This would be an example of a lipid.  You can tell by the large number of Carbons and Hydrogens.  While there is a FEW oxygen molecules - it is not anywhere CLOSE to a 1:2:1 ratio.  This is in fact the structural formula of Testosterone which is a natural steroid hormone found in our bodies.}

C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁

This would be a carbohydrate.  This is the molecular formal for Sucrose (table sugar) which is a DIsaccharide.  It is not EXACTLY a 1:2:1 ratio - but how it is bonded together does not allow for a complete 1:2:1 ratio.  

After the daily questions we worked through the notes finishing up lipids and some of us where able to move into proteins.  In the Protein section I had you listen to a podcast on how Gelatin is made.  Here is a transcript of that podcast

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/transcript/what-exactly-is-jello-made-from/

Don't forget - DAILY QUESTION QUIZ TOMORROW!!! STUDY UP!!  They will be from the couple from last week and all of this weeks.

Carbon and carbohydrates

Yesterday we did not have a daily question - we got right into notes.  Most of you made it through the function of lipids in the notes.  Today we started our discussion of the notes.  We started with the following Daily Questions though:

Organic compounds that make us up are made up of many atoms of which element?  Carbon

Why is this element so useful in making macromolecules (large molecules)

It is SMALL, it is "kind" because it wants to share it's 4 valence electrons with other molecules to fill it's outer shell and it will bond with up to FOUR other molecules to do this.  I referred to the hank Green "Crash Course"

How many valence electrons does this atom have that can be shared with other atoms? Four (so it wants/needs 4 more to fill it's valence shell)

The four primary biomolecules that make us up are: Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, Nucleic Acids

After this we went through the notes on Carbohydrates and SOME classes started into lipids.  

We will continue with this discussion and start into some activities involved in this by Friday!  Don't forget we will have a Daily Question Quiz on Friday as well.

Wrap Up Properties of Water and intro to organic chemistry

Catch up time!!

Wednesday and Thursday of last week we did not have any daily question.  Wednesday you took the open notes quiz on basic chemistry and water, then on Thursday you did some book work for the next section.  Friday we did have the following daily questions and finished up the notes on water. (specifically looking at specific heat, density of water as a solid and water as a universal solvent)

Friday September 14th
Water is able to resist drastic changes in temperature because it has a high Specific heat (heat capacity)

Why is this important to us? (As humans)  Since we are made up of approximately 70-75% water, this fact allows us to minimize major temperature fluxuations in our body temperature.

Monday September 17th we started with the following daily questions

Monday September 17^th

Water in solution disassociates into two ions.  What are these two ions? (What caused the charges to happen?)

H+ (Hydrogen Ion) and OH- (Hydroxide ion)  The Hydrogen ion gained a positive charge when it LOST and ELECTRON.  Where did that electron go????........ to the Hydroxide molecule giving it a negative charge.  Remember that water is a polar molecule and therefore its electrons are shared unevenly.  When Water dissacociates in solution the oxygen actually "takes" that extra electron.

Because water does this it is considered a universal Solvent.  (Remember though, I put this in quotations because I want you to know that water does NOT litterally dissolve EVERYTHING in the universe.   We will see some of these examples later!!)

I then had you watch two introductory videos from the "crash course" guy.  The first on Carbon and the second on three of the four main macromolecules of life.  This was to serve merely as an introduction to the notes we will be taking tomorrow. 

We'll plan on a DQ2 on Friday.  Please check edline for any notes.  Tomorrow we will work through the second half of the "Chemistry of Life" notes.

Capillary Action activity and finish up water notes

      Tuesday September 11^th

Water will form hydrogen bonds with other substances such as glass, soil and plant tissues. The term for this type of attraction is known as Adhesion

A combination of this and Cohesion can cause water to ‘defy gravity’ by moving UP narrow tubes (such as the roots of trees) in a process known as Capillary Action

After these daily questions we moved into our next set of activities on Adhesion and Capillary Action.  The capillary action we saw (see pictures and video Below) was first caused by the adhesion of water to the glass.  THEN - as the water moved into the tube Cohesion caused it to continue to rise. Remember, the water is still attracted to other water molecules so they "tow" each other up the tube.

The next activity was to see adhesion.  I had you add drops of water onto a penny to see how it adhered.  THEN I added soap to the penny.  You noticed that when soap was added, you were not able to get as much water on there.  Why?!?!  The soap breaks apart the hydrogen bonds which causes a decrease in surface tension and adhesion. (more to come about this tomorrow)

After those - we continued with notes through the density of water.  Tomorrow is our open notes quiz!!  Be prepared!!!!!

Surface Tension Activity

Today we started class with our Daily Question Quiz - then moved in to the daily question and activities for this week.

Monday September 10^th

 *Water can and WANTS to form bonds with how many other water molecules?
4

*Waters attraction to other water molecules is known as Cohesion

*The term for how water “pulls in” at the surface to form a “film” is known as Surface Tension

I showed you guys surface tension by having you try and balance the pin on top of the water.  We then got through notes on adhesion/capillary action.  We will continue through those tomorrow!

Cohesion Activity

 After learning what cohesion was - we started to see it in action.  Here's some pics on how it went.

Remember Cohesion is waters attraction to other water molecules.  It wants to bind with FOUR other water molecules.  At the SURFACE of the water there is no other water molecules ABOVE, so it holds tight to the what it can below!

First I had you fill the jar up to the VERY top
with water.

So that it was actually slightly
OVER the top of the Jar

Then you slowly added pennies
into the already full jar

They you saw how many would fit
before it overflowed.

You were able to really "see" how attracted water is to itself as you were able to put a lot of pennies into the jar.  Again, the key thing to remember is that this property of water is all due to the HYDROGEN BONDS holding them together.  Until the pressure from the pennies below is greater than the attraction to each other, they will remain bonded to each other.

Wonders of Water day 2

Friday September 7^th

Draw and label a water molecule 

What type of bond holds together this water molecule?

Because of this there are “partial” charges associated with it.  Which end acts +, which acts -? (Label those)

Using the models in your tubs – make 5 water molecules then place how you think 1 would bond with 4 others.

 What type of bond holds two water molecules together?

Remember EACH of these would then be bonded to four Water
molecules which leads to a very complex crystal form

We then took one slide of notes on Cohesion and surface tension then got to see that in action!  Check the next blog post for pics on this activity.  (Remember - get notes off Edline if you are absent)

Wonders of Water Day 1

Thursday September 6^th

Based on this cartoon – What type of Bond is this “marriage” depicting?
An ionic bond since he is GIVING his electrons away.  Remember - I told you a way that I was taught to remember Ionic bonds is "I OWN it."  He GAVE her his electron so now she OWNS it!

What if instead the “boy” atom said “I do, Let’s share our valence electrons baby”  Which type of bond would it be referring to?
This would be a covalent bond.  Remember I told you that the prefix "co" means together, share or both.  In covalent bonds electrons are SHARED between two atoms.

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After that we started into our discussion on water and its INCREDIBLY unique properties.  First I had you watch the following clip from the Waterboy.... WHY?!??!!  Because we are going to see that water does NOT suck and Gatoraide wouldn't have the effect it did if water wasn't the amazing molecule it IS!

We are in for some hands on stuff over the next couple days!!!
It may be hot in here - but we'll make the best of it :)

Then we started into notes about water.  Most classes got to the point of drawing out water molecules, seeing what makes it "polar" and then made some water molecules with pop-it beads.

Making water molecules out of pop-it beads

Note the "mickey mouse" shape of the water molecule.
This is due to the fact that water is held together by
POLAR Covalent bonds - so the electrons are shared
unevenly!!

4 perfect little water molecules!
Tomorrow we will see how they interact with each other