Summary
In this competency you learned about these topics:
- The basics of atomic structure
- The way atomic structure directly relates to chemical bond formation
- The way functional groups directly impact a molecule’s characteristics
- The way the pH scale works and why it matters
- Chemical reactions and the formation of macromolecules from simple building blocks
- The way physics ties in (the laws of thermodynamics)
The video below summarizes and expands on the ideas we learned in this module:
Synthesis
Let’s look back to our earlier occupation spotlight on the nutritionist. You should now be able see how an understanding of chemistry is essential to this job: a nutritionist needs to understand how the body builds complex molecules from the food a person ingests. A nutritionist also should understand how energy is used and moved about in the body. All this requires a basic understanding of elements, their structures, and how they interact.