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Chemical compounds and human life processes - short lecture


FredParisFrance 61 / 7  
Jul 7, 2008   #1
Hello,

Could you please read my essay and give me some feedback?

The prompt is:

Select a topic (anatomy or physiology) that interests you from this week's reading material and write a "lecture" (300 to 500 words) to your classmates; describing the topic to them as if your were the instructor teaching the class.

Thank you in advance
Frederic

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Since the chemical level is the smallest unit in the structural organization of the human body, the comprehension of the influence of the various chemical compounds on human life processes is primordial. Those chemical compounds may be characterized by two categories: inorganic and organic compounds.

On the one hand, inorganic compounds are typically structurally simple and lack carbon, in addition to being held together by ionic or covalent bonds. Inorganic compounds in the body comprise water, numerous salts, acids, and bases.

Among the various inorganic compounds present in the human body, water is found in profusion because it is the main element in many lubricating fluids in the body and because it is an excellent solvent, although molecules containing mainly nonpolar covalent bonds are hydrophobic. Moreover, water contributes to decomposition reactions (hydrolysis). Finally, its capacity to release and, above all, absorb a large amount of heat without changing its own temperature too much, turns water into an efficient cooling system, which is extremely useful in the of the body temperature.

Inorganic acids, bases, and salts also play a prominent part in the maintenance of homeostasis because they dissociate into ions in water. Acids ionize into hydrogen ions, bases into hydroxide ions, and salts into none of the two ions abovementioned. This is of great importance because the amount of hydrogen and hydroxide ions characterizes respectively the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, i.e. its pH, which is expressed on a pH scale whose values range from 0 (most acidic) to 14 (most basic/alkaline). Buffer systems participate in the equilibrium of pH through the attenuation of strong acids and bases.

On the other hand, organic compounds always contain carbon and habitually hydrogen in addition to being strictly held together by covalent bonds. Organic compounds in the body encompass carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids, and adenosine triphosphate.

Carbohydrates consist of sugars, glycogen, and starches on the form of monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. Carbohydrates are the source of most of the chemical energy necessary to generate adenosine triphosphate. Furthermore, carbohydrates emerge from dehydration synthesis reactions in the same way as other macromolecules. On the contrary, the addition of water allows the dissociation of macromolecules such as carbohydrates into smaller molecules.

Lipids, which are stored in adipose tissue, encompass triglycerides (fats and oils), phospholipids (essential membrane component), and steroids (synthesized from cholesterol), whose aim is to protect, insulate, and provide energy.

Proteins emerge from amino acids and participate in the contraction of muscles and the transport of substances in addition to giving structure to the body, regulate processes, protect, and serve as enzymes. The latter are habitually proteins that accelerate chemical reactions and take place in numerous cellular controls.

Nucleic acids comprise deoxyribonucleic and ribonucleic acids, respectively DNA and RNA, which are made of nitrogenous bases, five carbon sugars, and phosphate groups. Contrary to DNA, which is the primary chemical in genes (on the form of a double helix), RNA conveys the instructions encoded in DNA and is single-stranded.

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), as the main energy molecule in living organisms, transmits energy through hydrolysis from energy-releasing reactions to energy-requiring reactions maintaining cellular activity.


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