Chemistry of Living Systems Especially….sunfish!

Biology needs Chemistry! Living organisms are mostly made of: P S

Why CHNOPS? These atoms make strong covalent bonds. These atoms are non-metals.

Valence of CHNOPS Each atom has a certain number of valence electrons. These electrons determine how many bonds an atom will form.

How many bonds? An atom will form one bond for each valence electron that it does not have. Example: oxygen will form two bonds.

How many bonds do these atoms want to make?

Beware! Weird Atoms! Nitrogen, Sulfur, and Phosphorus are weird. Sometimes they want to make a different number of bonds than it would seem. You will learn about this when you get a PhD in Chemistry!

Carbon is the King! Of CHNOPS, carbon is the most important. Carbon likes to make four bonds to get happy! Carbon combines with itself and many other elements! Carbon can combine in lots of DIFFERENT ways! Carbon can make rings and chains!

Carbon makes a STRONG covalent bond!

What kinds of molecules do CHNOPS make that are important to living things?

Small molecules

Medium molecules

Large molecules

Carbon LOVES to bond with itself and hydrogen to make really big molecules!

CHNOPS! We love all of you!