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.