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Kendra's picture

When we began to

When we began to incorporate the periodic table and talk of the different molecular bonds in class discussions, I panicked. This was because I decided to take a biology course in order to avoid any chemistry, which was my worst nightmare last year. But now I realize that the two are, of course, interconnected and that studying the periodic table helps us to better understand the molecular diversity of living organisms. I, too, think it is a good story that everything is made out of the same constituents but in different arrangements.

I thought the point that 'there is no atom that makes us alive, rather a group of atoms' is a good one to recognize. One example about molecular diversity that really stuck out to me was the difference between ethane and ethanol,how one can kill you if ingested while the other just makes you drunk. Theyare both made of the same constituents, but that one oxygen atom makes all the difference.

Also, I found myself questioning what makes a molecule left handed or right handed? It just seemed like an interesting way to differentiate certain molecules.

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