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Chemistry of Life 1
Basic Chemistry Review
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Element | Simplest form of matter to have unique chemical properties |
6 common elements in the body | Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus |
Number of elements that have a biological role | 24 |
Minerals | Inorganic elements extracted from soil by plants and passed up the food chain (e.x. calcium, phosphorus, magnesium) |
Mineral salts | Needed for nerve and muscle function |
Isotopes | Varieties of an element that differ from one another only in the number of neutrons and therefore in mass |
Atomic weight | Relative atomic mass, accounts for masses of isotopes |
Radioisotopes | Unstable isotopes that give off radiation |
Marie Curie | Discovered radioactivity and pioneered radiation therapy as cancer treatment |
Ionizing radiation | High energy radiation that ejects electrons from atoms converting atoms to ions; destroyers molecules and produces free radicals |
Physical half-life | Time needed for 50% of a radioisotope to decay into a stable state |
Biological half life | Time needed for 50% of a radioisotope to disappear from the body |
Electrolytes | Salts that ionize in water and form solutions capable of conducting an electric current; has important chemical, osmotic, and electrical effects in the body |
Free radicals | Damaging chemical particles with an odd number of electrons, produced by normal metabolic reactions, radiation, and chemicals |
Antioxidants | Neutralizes free radicals |
Solvency | Ability to dissolve other chemicals |
Universal Solvent | Water |
Adhesion | Tendency of one substance to cling to another substance |
Cohesion | Tendency of like molecules to cling to each other |
Buffers | Chemicals that resist changes to pH |