SME
Grade 9 Science · Biology
The chemistry of life: water and biomolecules
See how carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids and fats are built from small units, and how water joins or splits them.
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Two glucose join into maltose, a disaccharide; one water molecule leaves.
Sugars are made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen only.
Assumptions
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Monomers join by dehydration synthesis: each new bond gives off one water molecule.
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Hydrolysis runs it backward: one water molecule added breaks each bond, as in digestion.
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A fat is not a true polymer: glycerol always takes exactly three fatty acids.
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More problem types
Dehydration synthesis: water and mass
Use this for “How many water molecules leave as the chain forms, or are needed to split it, and what is the polymer’s mass?”
Which class of biomolecule is it?
Use this for “Antibodies are made of which kind of molecule?”
Which property of water explains it?
Use this for “Why can an insect stand on the surface of a pond?”