1. POLYMERS POLYMERS POLYMERS
Name ________________________________________ Date __________________ Period ___________
POLYMERS
POLYMERS
POLYMERS
Directions: Polymers are macromolecules that are made up of smaller subunits. The analogy might be made of a building being made out of bricks. The bricks are, taken by themselves, not a building, but if you put them together they become a building – something that they were not before. In this same way, carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and DNA are made up of monosaccharides, amino acids, glycerol/fatty acids, and nucleic acids, respectively. Answer the questions below concerning polymers.
0. What is the best way to prepare eggs?
1. What does the prefix “poly-” mean?
2. What does the suffix “-mer” mean?
3. When hooking together two monosaccharides, a molecule must be removed. What is this molecule
called? Draw it.
4. Why is hooking together two monosaccharides called dehydration synthesis?
5. What would you make if you hooked together a whole slew of molecules that looked like the one below?
6. There are only four types of nucleic acids. How, then, can DNA encode all the information that your
body needs to survive?

2. 7. Plants use starch as food
7. Plants use starch as food. Starch is a chain of glucose molecules with only two ends. Animals, however, use a starch that has many branches (see below). Why do you think this is?
Plant starch
Animal starch