The Chemical Context of Life_Chapter 2

1. How does an ant live?

2. How is the relationship of chemistry and biology?

3. How do the formation and function of molecules work?

Chemistry in ant's world.

Chemistry is really important in an ant's world. Since they don't see really well, they need chemical communication. Some type of ants use longlasting chemical cues

to identify themselves and to mark their area. This is why chemistry is really close to biological organisms and can be play a big role in life.

Chemistry connects to biology.

Biology is a multi-disciplinary science which is composed by biology itself, chemistry and physics. All organisms on Earth need essential elements such as oxygen ( O2) , carbon (C) and compounds such as water ( H2O ), corbondioxyde ( CO2) . So we can say that in order to live, communities need chemical substances. For instance ; Radioactive isotopes have many useful applications in biology. Scientists use measurements of radioactivity in fossils to date these relics of past life.

The formation and function of molecules depend on chemical bonding between atoms.

Chemical bonds form when atoms interact and complete their valence shells. Covalent bond is the sharing of a pair of valence electrons by two atoms. ( H2) If two atoms are unequal in their attraction for valence electrons, ( because of their opposite charges ) it makes an ionic bond.(NaCl) A hydrogen bond is an attraction between a hydrogen atom carrying a partial positive charge and an electronegative atom.

5 main facts from the reading :

. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down to other substances by chemical reactions.A compound is a substance consisting of two or more different elements combined in a fixed ratio.

. An atom is the smallest unit of matter that still retains the properties of an element. It has 3 kinds of particles which are neutrons, protons and electrons.

. The point at which the reactions offset one another exactly is called chemical equilibrium.

. A molecule's shape is determined by the positions of its atom's valence orbitals.

. Chemical reactions change reactants into products while conserving matter and all chemical reactions are theoretically reversible.

Video about chemical bonding :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERy18NwemVc

In this chapter, we learned the basic chemistry like atoms, bonds, elements, isotopes. We learn how the biology science need chemistry to improve and to find out new style of lives like ants living near by Duroia Trees in Peru.There are 3 different kinds of bonds such as covalent bonds, ionic bonds and hydrogen bonds. In the nature there are so many chemical reactions of the various types of molecules which are important to life.