A Macromolecule Investigation
What Are Macromolecules? Monomer Polymer
What are monomers that make them? 4 main monomer types Saccharides Amino Acids Fatty acids Nucleotides
What polymers do they make? Saccharides Polysaccharides, carbohydrates, fiber, sugars Amino Acids Proteins Fatty Acids Lipids, fats Nucleotides DNA and RNA
What do macromolecules do? Polysaccharides: Energy storage (carbs), structural support (fiber in plants) Proteins: Cellular machinery (enzymes), cell communication Lipids: Energy storage, cellular membranes DNA: Instructional database, like a computer code
Today: Focus on carbohydrates and lipids Station 1: Determine fat content of bacon and compare to food labels Station 2: Detecting presence of sugars as monomers (simple sugars) or polymers (complex sugars) Station 3: Measuring the densities of lipids