Chapter 4: Carbon & the molecular diversity of life. Flashcards

4.1 Organic chemistry is the study of carbon compounds.
4.2 Carbon atoms can form diverse molecules by bonding to four other atoms.

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455186830	How does carbon enter the biosphere?	through the action of plants, which use solar energy to transform atmospheric CO2 into the molecules of life. Then these molecules are passed along to animals that feed on plants.
455186831	carbons paralleled ability	carbon has the aility to form molecules that are large, complex, and diverse.
455186832	...	protiens, dna, carbohydrates, and othervmolecules that distinguish living matter from inanimate material are all composed of carbon atomsbonded to one another and to atoms of other elements.
455186833	organic chemistry	the branch of chemistry that specializes in the study of carbon compounds, regardless of origin. the foundation of the unique versatility of the element carbon.
455186834	...	most organic compounds contain hydrogen atoms in addition to carbon attoms.
455186835	vitalism	the belief in a life forced outside the jurisdiction of physical and chemical laws, provided the foundation for the new discipline of organic chemistry. Crumbled completely after several decades of laboratory synthesis of some increasingly complex organic compounds.
455186836	stanley miller	1953, helped bring abiotic (nonliving) synthesis of organic conpounds into the context of evolution in a classic. His and other scientists' experiments support the idea that abiotic synthesis of organic compounds could have been an early stage in the origin of life.
455186837	mechanism	the view that physical and chemical laws govern all natural phenomena, including the process of life.
455186838	what produces most of the naturally occuring compunds?	organisms, and these molecules represent a diversity and range of complexity unrivaled by inorganic compunds.
455186839	how many electrons does carbon have?	6, with 2 in the front electron shell and 4 in the second shell. Having 4 valence electrons in a shell that hold 8, carbon would have to donate or acct 4 electrons to complete its valence shell and become an ion.
455186840	tetravalence *	one facet of carbon's versatility that makes large, complex molecules possible. when
455186841	Methane*	when a carbon atom has four single bonds to other atoms, the molecule is tetrahedral CH4
455186842	Ethane	A molecule may have more than one tetrahedral group of single-bonded atoms. (Ethane contains of two such groups)
455186843	Ethene (ethylene)	When two carbon atoms are joined by a double bond, all atoms attached to theose carbons are in the same plane,; the molecule is flat.
455186844	hydrocarbons	organic molecules consisting of only carbon and hydrogen.
455186845	isomers	compunds that have the same numbers of atoms of the same elements but different structures and hence differennt properties.
455552030	structural isomers*	differ in the covalent arrangments of their atoms.
455552031	geometric isomers	have the same covalent partnerships, but they differ in their spatial arrangmets.
455552032	enantiomers	isomers that are mirror images of each other
455552033	functional groups	the chemical groups that affect molecular function by being directly involved in chemical reactions;