Monomers and polymersAQA A-Level Biology: Flashcards
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What is a monomer?
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- What is a monomer?
- A smaller unit from which larger molecules are made.
- What is a polymer?
- A molecule made from a large number of monomers joined together.
- Name three examples of monomers.
- Monosaccharides, amino acids and nucleotides.
- Which polymer is made from nucleotides?
- DNA or RNA (a polynucleotide).
- What is a condensation reaction?
- A reaction that joins two molecules with the formation of a chemical bond and the elimination of a molecule of water.
- What is a hydrolysis reaction?
- A reaction that breaks a chemical bond between two molecules and uses a molecule of water.
- What bond forms between two amino acids?
- A peptide bond, formed by condensation.
- What bond forms between two monosaccharides?
- A glycosidic bond, formed by condensation.
- How many water molecules are eliminated when 50 monomers form an unbranched chain?
- 49, because 49 bonds form.
- Which reaction is the reverse of condensation?
- Hydrolysis.
- What type of reaction is digestion of starch to glucose?
- Hydrolysis.
- Why can one organism digest and reuse the proteins of another?
- All living things use the same twenty amino acids joined by peptide bonds, so the biochemical basis of life is similar.
- What differs between the proteins of different species?
- The sequence of the amino acids, not the type of monomer.
Exam questions on Monomers and polymers
- A student is revising how cells build the large molecules they need. She lists glucose, glycine and a nucleotide containing adenine as small molecules, and starch, a protein and DNA as large molecules made from them.Name the type of reaction that joins glycine molecules to form a polypeptide, and state what is released each time two glycine molecules join.2 marks
- A protease enzyme is added to a solution containing a polypeptide of 120 amino acids. After incubation the solution contains only free amino acids.Explain why water is needed for the protease to break down the polypeptide.2 marks
- Three amino acids, glycine, alanine and serine, are joined in that order to make a tripeptide. The relative formula masses are: glycine 75, alanine 89, serine 105 and water 18.Describe how the three amino acids are joined to form the tripeptide.3 marks
Written by the Exaim team, led by Shaun Daswani (Head of Upper Secondary, Improve ME Institute; MSc Financial Mathematics, Imperial College London; BSc, UCL) and Jason Daswani (operational lead, Improve ME Institute; LSE).