Chapter 2 - The chemical context of life. After reading this chapter and attending lecture, the student should be able to: Define element and compound, state four elements essential to life that make up 96% of living matter, describe the structure of an atom,. | CHAPTER 2 THE CHEMICAL CONTEXT OF LIFE Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Section A: Chemical Elements and Compounds 1. Matter consists of chemical elements in pure form and in combinations called compounds 2. Life requires abut 25 chemical elements Nature is not neatly packaged into the individual life sciences. While biologists specialize in the study of life, organisms and the world they live in are natural systems to which the basic concepts of chemistry and physics apply. Biology is a multidisciplinary science, drawing on the insights from other sciences. Introduction Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Life can be organized into a hierarchy of structural levels. At each successive level additional emergent properties appear. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig. Organisms are composed of matter. Matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. An element is a substance that cannot be broken down into other substances by chemical reactions. There are 92 naturally-occurring elements. Each element has a unique symbol, usually from the first one or two letters of the name, often from Latin or German. 1. Matter consists of chemical elements in pure form and in combinations called compounds Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings A compound is a substance consisting of two or more elements in a fixed ratio. Table salt (sodium chloride or NaCl) is a compound with equal numbers of chlorine and sodium atoms. While pure sodium is a metal and chlorine is a gas, their combination forms an edible compound, an emergent property. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig. About 25 of the 92 natural elements are known to be essential for life. Four elements - carbon (C), oxygen (O), hydrogen (H), and nitrogen (N) - make up 96% of living matter. Most of the remaining 4% of an . | CHAPTER 2 THE CHEMICAL CONTEXT OF LIFE Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Section A: Chemical Elements and Compounds 1. Matter consists of chemical elements in pure form and in combinations called compounds 2. Life requires abut 25 chemical elements Nature is not neatly packaged into the individual life sciences. While biologists specialize in the study of life, organisms and the world they live in are natural systems to which the basic concepts of chemistry and physics apply. Biology is a multidisciplinary science, drawing on the insights from other sciences. Introduction Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Life can be organized into a hierarchy of structural levels. At each successive level additional emergent properties appear. Copyright © 2002 Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Benjamin Cummings Fig. Organisms are composed of matter. Matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. An element
