Life and Its Chemical Foundations

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the chemical foundations of life. Matter is made up of elements classified into major and minor elements. Elements are made up of atoms which in turn are made up of sub-atomic particles called protons, electrons and neutrons. Chemical bonds are unions of electron structures when atoms lose, gain or share one or more electrons with other atoms. Water is important to life and has unique properties making it ideal to life on Earth. The pH of a substance is a measure of the balance between H+ and OH- ions ranging from 0 to 14 on a log scale. Most metabolic reactions that maintain life occur in living organisms involve five types of chemical reactions. Macromolecules are large complex molecules made up of repeating units (monomers) of sometimes the same molecule or of different molecules joined together by chemical bonds to form very long chains (polymers).