Name______

What makes up living things?

1) Elements in living things

1.  Color the 6 most abundant elements in living things above?

2.  Why is carbon especially important in living things?

3.  What percent of the weight of a typical animal is oxygen?

4.  What does the body use phosphorus for?

5.  What does the body use sulfur for?

6.  Besides being part of the composition of bone, why else do mammals need calcium?

Additional information about your section

2) Monomers and Polymers

  1. What are the four main classes of organic compounds?
  1. What is a monomer?
  1. How are monomers and polymers related?
  1. Give an example or drawing of a monomer and polymer.

Additional information about your section

3) Carbohydrates

1.  Macromolecules are also known as ______.

2.  If all the macromolecules are made mainly of the elements CHO, how are they different?

3.  Name 2 ways your body uses carbohydrates.

  1. What are the subunits (monomers) called that make up carbohydrates?
  1. Long chains of sugars are ______.

Additional information about your section

4) Proteins

1.  What subunits make up proteins?

  1. What are the 5 main jobs of proteins in your body? Give an example of each.
  1. Why is the protein’s conformation or structure important?
  1. How is the protein’s structure determined?

Additional information about your section

5) Lipids

  1. What are the three functions of lipids?
  1. How are lipids like carbohydrates?
  1. How does a lipid act like an insulator?
  1. What makes up the cell membrane?

Additional information about your section

6) Enzymes

  1. What does a catalyst do?
  1. What do enzymes do inside living cells?
  1. How does the enzyme recognize what it is supposed to bind to?
  1. Lactase is an enzyme that breaks down lactose sugar into a form that you body can use. It normally works in your small intestine at a pH of about 6.5. If this enzyme were to move to your stomach (a pH of 1 or 2), would it be able to break down lactose? Explain! What would happen to the enzyme?

Additional information about your section

7) Nucleic Acids

  1. Give two examples of nucleic acids.
  1. The monomers that make up a nucleic acid are called ______.
  1. What is the genetic code?
  1. How do DNA and RNA work together to make proteins?

Additional information about your section

Fill in the blanks in the table below

Macromolecule / Monomer unit / Polymer name(s) / Functions
Protein / Polypeptide
Protein
Lipids / N/A / Lipid
Fat
Carbohydrate / monosaccharide
Nucleic Acid / Nucleic Acid
DNA
RNA