Reflection 1: Biomolecules & Biochemical process Date: 27 February 2012 In this lesson, the first thing that had

been taught was about the functional groups of organic biomolecules. Functional group is the atoms or clusters of atom that covalently bond to carbon in organic molecules. The functional groups are hydroxyl, carbonyl, carboxyl, amine, phosphate and sulfhydryl. The aldehydes and ketones can be differentiating by the position of the carbonyl group. For the aldehyde, the carbonyl is at the end of the skeleton whereas for the ketones, the carbonyl is placed between two carbon atoms. Next, the biomolecule classes are carbohydrate, lipid, protein and nucleic acid. Each of the biomolecule classes has their own major monomer. The monomer for carbohydrate is glucose. The monomer for protein is amino acid. The monomer for lipid is fatty acid. Lastly, the monomer for nucleic acid is nucleotide. We also have to know the general molecular structure of the biomolecules. Next, for the second chapter was about the biochemical process. The common biochemical reactions are condensation, hydrolysis, functional group transfer, electron transfer and rearrangement. All the reactions involved energy. Energy is the capacity to do work, which is any change in the state or motion of matter. We can measure energy changes in biochemistry as heat energy and the unit is kilocalorie (kcal). Organisms are open system because open system does exchange energy with its surroundings. The first law of thermodynamic stated that energy cannot be created or destroyed, energy can be transferred and changed in form and organisms cannot produce energy but as open systems, they can capture it. The second law of thermodynamic stated that entropy is continuously increasing, no energy transfer is 100% efficient and some energy is dissipated as heat. Free energy is the energy in a physical system that can be converted to do work. There are two types of reaction. Exergonic reaction releases energy that can perform work, the reaction is spontaneous and entropy is increases. While endergonic reaction increases free energy, not spontaneous and entropy is a decrease. In coupled reactions, the energy released by an exergonic reaction drives an endergonic reaction. Next is about the redox reaction. L.E.O refers to Lose, Electrons, Oxidation. G.E.R refers to Gain, Electrons, Reduction. This is the easy method to understand about the redox reaction.Several examples of oxidations are roaring fire, rusts on metal and aging. ATP play important role to provide energy in chemical work, transport work and mechanical work.