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The Building Blocks of Molecules
EnBio
∗
David Cole
Based on The Building Blocks of Molecules† by
OpenStax
This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0‡
At its most fundamental level, life is made up of matter. Matter occupies space and has mass. All
matter is composed of elements, substances that cannot be broken down or transformed chemically into
other substances. Each element is made of one type of atoms.
Each element is designated by its chemical symbol (such as H, N, O, C, and Na), and possesses unique
properties. These unique properties allow elements to combine and to bond with each other in specic ways.
1 Atoms
An atom is the smallest component of an element that retains all of the chemical properties of that element.
For example, one hydrogen atom has all of the properties of the element hydrogen, such as it exists as a
gas at room temperature, and it bonds with oxygen to create a water molecule. Hydrogen atoms cannot be
broken down into anything smaller while still retaining the properties of hydrogen. If a hydrogen atom were
broken down into subatomic particles, it would no longer have the properties of hydrogen.
At the most basic level, all organisms are made of a combination of elements. They contain atoms that
combine together to form molecules. In multicellular organisms, such as animals, molecules can interact to
form cells that combine to form tissues, which make up organs. These combinations continue until entire
multicellular organisms are formed.
:
∗ Version
1.4: May 1, 2015 1:38 pm -0500
† http://cnx.org/content/m45417/1.8/
‡ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Figure 1: Arranged in columns and rows based on the characteristics of the elements, the periodic
table provides key information about the elements and how they might interact with each other to form
molecules. Most periodic tables provide a key or legend to the information they contain.
2
2.1
There are two types of bonds that hold atoms together; polar and non-polar. Non-polar bonds form nonpolar molecules with no charge on them, like carbon with carbon or carbon with hydrogen. Polar bonds
form polar molecules with a partial charge, either positive or negative.
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Figure 2: The water molecule (left) depicts a polar bond with a slightly positive charge on the hydrogen
atoms and a slightly negative charge on the oxygen. Examples of nonpolar bonds include methane
(middle) and oxygen (right).
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2.2 Hydrogen Bonds
Figure 3: Hydrogen bonds form between slightly positive (δ +) and slightly negative (δ ) charges of
polar covalent molecules, such as water.
Hydrogen bonds can form between dierent molecules and they do not always have to include a water
molecule. Hydrogen atoms in polar bonds within any molecule can form bonds with other adjacent molecules.
For example, hydrogen bonds hold together two long strands of DNA to give the DNA molecule its characteristic double-stranded structure. Hydrogen bonds are also responsible for some of the three-dimensional
structure of proteins.
3 Section Summary
Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass. It is made up of atoms of dierent elements. All of
the 92 elements that occur naturally have unique qualities that allow them to combine in various ways to
create compounds or molecules. Atoms, which consist of protons, neutrons, and electrons, are the smallest
units of an element that retain all of the properties of that element.
Glossary
Denition 1: anion
a negative ion formed by gaining electrons
Denition 2: atomic number
the number of protons in an atom
Denition 3: cation
a positive ion formed by losing electrons
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Denition 4: chemical bond
an interaction between two or more of the same or dierent elements that results in the formation
of molecules
Denition 5: covalent bond
a type of strong bond between two or more of the same or dierent elements; forms when electrons
are shared between elements
Denition 6: electron
a negatively charged particle that resides outside of the nucleus in the electron orbital; lacks functional mass and has a charge of 1
Denition 7: electron transfer
the movement of electrons from one element to another
Denition 8: element
one of 118 unique substances that cannot be broken down into smaller substances and retain
the characteristic of that substance; each element has a specied number of protons and unique
properties
Denition 9: hydrogen bond
a weak bond between partially positively charged hydrogen atoms and partially negatively charged
elements or molecules
Denition 10: ion
an atom or compound that does not contain equal numbers of protons and electrons, and therefore
has a net charge
Denition 11: ionic bond
a chemical bond that forms between ions of opposite charges
Denition 12: isotope
one or more forms of an element that have dierent numbers of neutrons
Denition 13: mass number
the number of protons plus neutrons in an atom
Denition 14: matter
anything that has mass and occupies space
Denition 15: neutron
a particle with no charge that resides in the nucleus of an atom; has a mass of 1
Denition 16: nonpolar covalent bond
a type of covalent bond that forms between atoms when electrons are shared equally between atoms,
resulting in no regions with partial charges as in polar covalent bonds
Denition 17: nucleus
(chemistry) the dense center of an atom made up of protons and (except in the case of a hydrogen
atom) neutrons
Denition 18: octet rule
states that the outermost shell of an element with a low atomic number can hold eight electrons
Denition 19: periodic table of elements
an organizational chart of elements, indicating the atomic number and mass number of each element;
also provides key information about the properties of elements
Denition 20: polar covalent bond
a type of covalent bond in which electrons are pulled toward one atom and away from another,
resulting in slightly positive and slightly negative charged regions of the molecule
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Denition 21: proton
a positively charged particle that resides in the nucleus of an atom; has a mass of 1 and a charge
of +1
Denition 22: radioactive isotope
an isotope that spontaneously emits particles or energy to form a more stable element
Denition 23: van der Waals interaction
a weak attraction or interaction between molecules caused by slightly positively charged or slightly
negatively charged atoms
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