Andrés López Forastier

Biology 1

Chapter 2 Notes
1. Nuclear Medicine
a. Radiation is most dangerous when exposure is uncontrolled, but when radiation is applied in a carefully
controlled manner, it can be helpful.
b. The most beneficial application of controlled radiation is diagnosing and treating diseases.
i. Once a cell takes up a radioactive atom, its location and concentration can be detected.
1. A medical diagnostic tool called a PET scan works by detecting small amounts of
radiation emitted by radioactive materials that were purposefully introduced to the body.
ii. Radiation therapy is used to help treat cancer and Grave’s disease by focusing radiation from
different angles on the infected part or tumor, while sparing the extra healthy tissue.
2. Some Basic Chemistry
a. If you take any biological system apart, you eventually end up at the chemical level.
b. Matter: Elements and Compounds
i. Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass. (Solid, Liquid, Gas)
1. Composed of Chemical Elements
ii. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into other substances by chemical
reactions.
1. 92 naturally occurring elements.
a. Listed on the periodic table.
2. 25 of the naturally occurring elements are essential to humans.
a. Some of the big ones include Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and
Calcium.
b. There are also trace elements, which the human body only requires in very small
amounts.
i. Iodine is needed so there is iodized salt.
ii. Fluoride is needed so it is added to dental products and water.
iii. Iron is added to cereal.
3. Elements can combine to form compounds, which are substances that contain two or
more different elements in a fixed ratio.
a. Table Salt is a compound of NaCl
b. A compound can have characteristics different from those of its elements.
c. The Structure of Atoms
i. An atom is the smallest unit of matter that still retains the properties of an element.
ii. The Structure of Atoms
1. Atoms are composed of subatomic particles including protons (+), electrons (-), and
neutrons (has no charge).
2. An element’s atomic number is its number of protons.
3. An atom’s mass number is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons.
4. An atom’s atomic mass, is the sum of its protons and neutrons, but may differ slightly
because of all the natural occurring forms of that element.
d. Isotopes
i. Some atoms differ in mass number.
ii. The different isotopes of an element have the same number of protons and behave identically in
chemical reactions, but they have different numbers of neutrons.
iii. A radioactive isotope is one in which the nucleus decays spontaneously, shedding particles and
energy (radiation).
1. Carbon-14
iv. Uncontrolled exposure to radiation can damage molecules like DNA.
e. How Effective is Radiation in Treating Prostate Cancer?
 Andrés López Forastier
Biology 1

i. Background
1. The prostate gland within the male is the most frequently diagnosed with cancer and the
second leading cause of cancer deaths.
ii. Method
1. The most effective treatment for prostate cancer is the surgical removal of the prostate,
but that can have serious side effects.
2. Often, doctors use radioactive seed implantation.
a. The isotopes will eventually turn into metals and by carefully regulating the
dosage, doctors attempt to abolish or slow the tumor without harming
surrounding healthy tissue.
3. Results
a. 94% of patients were cured using the seeds, but we cannot include control groups
because it would be unethical to provide a placebo seed to dying cancer patients.
f. Chemical Bonding and Molecules
i. The number of electrons in an atom determines the chemical properties of that atom.
1. Chemical Reactions allow atoms to transfer or share electrons.
2. These interactions usually result in atoms staying close together; held by attractions
called chemical bonds.
ii. Ionic Bonds
1. The attraction between oppositely charged ions.
a. Ions are atoms or molecules that are electrically charged because of gaining or
losing electrons.
b. Compounds that are held together by ionic bonds are called ionic compounds, or
salts.
iii. Covalent Bonds
1. Covalent Bonds form when two atoms share one or more pairs of electrons.
a. Covalent Bonds are the strongest.
b. These are bonds that hold atoms together in a molecule.
iv. Hydrogen Bonds
1. A polar molecule is one with an uneven distribution of charge that creates two poles, one
positive pole and one negative pole.
a. For example, with water: oxygen has a slight negative charge and the hydrogens
have a slight positive charge.
b. A hydrogen bond is a weak type of chemical bond formed when the slightly
positive hydrogen atom of a polar covalent bond in one molecule is attracted to
the slightly negative atom of a polar covalent bond in another molecule.
i. Molecules of DNA are held together by hydrogen bonds, which play a
key role in the flow of information within living systems.
g. Chemical Reactions
i. Chemical Reactions are the process leading to chemical changes in matter, involving the making
and/or breaking of chemical bonds.
1. The transformation of matter, one of the key themes that unite all aspects of biology, can
be seen in the countless chemical reactions that keep you alive.
ii. Reactants are the starting material in a chemical reaction.
iii. Products are the ending material in a chemical reaction.
iv. Chemical reactions cannot create or destroy matter; they can only rearrange it.
3. Water and Life
a. Life on Earth began in water and evolved there for 3 billion years before spreading onto land.
b. The abundance of water is a major reason that Earth is habitable.
 Andrés López Forastier
Biology 1

c. Water
i. The structure of water molecules—the polarity and the hydrogen bonding that results—explains
most of water’s life-supporting functions.
ii. The Cohesion of Water
1. Water molecules stick together because of hydrogen bonding.
a. Hydrogen bonds last a fraction of a second.
2. The tendency of molecules of the same kind to stick together, is called cohesion.
a. The cohesion of water is important for the living world.
3. Hydrogen bonds also give water unusually high surface tension, which is a measure of
how difficult it is to stretch or break the surface of a liquid.
a. Other liquids have a much weaker surface tension.
iii. How Water Moderates Temperature
1. Hydrogen bonding, causes water to have a stronger resistance to temperature change.
2. Water is good at storing large amounts of heat, and that is why the oceans and lakes full
of water allow life to thrive.
3. Water also moderates temperature with evaporative cooling.
a. When a substance evaporates, the surface of the liquid that remains cools down.
iv. The Biological Significance of ice Floating
1. When water molecules get cold enough, they move apart, with each molecule staying
“arm’s-length” apart from its neighbor, forming ice.
a. A chunk of ice floats because it is less dense than liquid water.
b. Floating Ice acts as an insulator for the creatures swimming in the ocean.
v. Water as the Solvent Life
1. A solution is a liquid consisting of a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances.
a. The dissolving agent is called the solvent, and any substance that is dissolved is
called a solute.
b. When water is the solvent, the solution is called an Aqueous Solution.
i. The fluids of organisms are aqueous solutions.
2. Water can dissolve an enormous variety of solutes necessary for life, providing a medium
for chemical reactions.
d. Acids, Bases, and pH
i. A small percentage of the water molecules in aqueous solutions break apart into hydrogen ions
and hydroxide ions, and a balance of these two highly reactive ions is critical for the proper
functioning of chemical processes within organisms.
1. An acid is a chemical compound that releases hydrogen ions to a solution.
2. A base or alkali is a compound that accepts hydrogen ions and removes them from a
solution.
3. Chemists use the pH scale to describe the acidity of a solution.
a. A measure of the hydrogen ion concentration in a solution.
b. 0-14 acidic to basic.
i. Each pH unit represents a tenfold change in the concentration of
hydrogen ions.
4. Biological fluids contain buffers, substances that minimize changes in pH by accepting
hydrogen ions when that ion is in excess and donating hydrogen ions wen it is depleted.
5. Changes in pH in the environment can affect other biological systems, such as the ocean.
4. Radioactivity as an Evolutionary Clock
a. Radioactive decay is also a helpful tool.
i. We can use radiometric dating to determine the ages of fossils.
ii. The half-life of an isotope is the time it takes for 50% of it to decay.
 Andrés López Forastier
Biology 1

iii. A fossils age can be estimated by measuring the ratio of the two isotopes to learn how many half-
life reductions have occurred since it died.