Introduction to Biology

Hamza Abu Hilail

M.Sc. Physiology
 What is Biology?
 The study of life

 The science of living things

•Biology (Greek or Latin origin)

• Bios = life
• Logos = study of
 Characteristics of Life
1. Cellular composition 6. Metabolism

2. Growth 7. Specific organization

3. Reproduction 8. Homeostasis

4. Movement 9. Responsiveness

5. Adaptation
 Cellular Composition
• Made up of at least one cell
• Unicellular - made of one cell (bacteria, amoeba,
paramecium)

• Multicellular - made up of two or more cells

(plants, fungi, animals)
1. Growth
• Increase in cell size (unicellular) and/or an
increase in cell number (multicellular)

2. Reproduction
• Asexual- cell division (mitosis)—one cell
becomes two Ex: bacteria

• Sexual- union of sex cells (sperm and egg) Ex:

animals and humans
3. Movement
• Three types:
A. Place to Place (ex: bear running, bird
flying, etc)

B. External Part (ex: plants orient leaves

toward sun)

C. Internal (ex: cytoplasmic streaming)

4. Adaptation (continued)
• Changing to meet the needs of the environment

• Examples:
• 1. Bird migration- behavioral adaptation

2. Human body temperature- Physiological adaptation

3. Hibernation(‫)السبات الشتوي‬: physiological adaptation

5. Metabolism

• Set of chemical reactions that

convert “food” into energy

6. Specific Organization
• Certain parts do specific jobs (ex:
heart, nucleus, chloroplasts, etc)
7. Homeostasis
•Maintaining the same state
Homeo = same, steady
Stasis = state

Examples:
-Water balance inside and outside of cell
-Human body temperature
*Cells function best when these are in
balance
8. Responsiveness
• Reaction(s) to various stimuli

Examples of stimuli: light, heat, pH, vibration,

smell, etc.– earthworms respond to all of these

Biology is a Unified Science

Biology + Chemistry + Physics= Science

 level of Organization

Atoms →Molecules →
organelles → cells

Cells → tissue → organs

→ organ systems →
Organisms
Essentials of Biology

Prepared by: Dr. Salamah Alwahsh

(from different Biology text books)
Chemistry of life
 Why do we study chemical context of life?

• In studying human biology, it’s useful to

understand some basic chemistry
– Chemical reactions explain the effects –
harmful or helpful – substances we take into
our bodies

• This will actually help you to identify

structures, functions, and processes of
many of the human body systems
2.1 The Nature of Matter
• Organisms are composed of matter
• Matter refers to anything that takes up space and has mass
• Matter is composed of elements
– Elements are the basic building blocks of matter that
cannot be broken down by chemical means
– There are 92 natural elements
– Living organisms are made primarily of 6 elements.
Oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, Phosphate,
Sulfur
– Trace elements are those required by an organism in
minute quantities
 Atoms and Elements

• Matter: Anything that • Neutron: atomic particle

takes up space with one mass unit and
no charge
• Element: Substance
composed of one type • Proton: atomic particle
of atom with one mass unit and a
positive charge
• Atom: Smallest unit of
an element that retains • Electron: atomic particle
the chemical and with a negative charge
physical properties of and “no” mass
that element
 Elements can combine to form compounds

• Compound—a substance consisting of two or more

different elements combined in a fixed ratio by mass
(and by atoms)
– There are many compounds that consist of only two
elements
– Table salt (sodium chloride or NaCl) is an example
– Sodium is a metal, and chloride is a poisonous
gas, however, when chemically combined, an
edible compound emerges
 +
Sodium Chlorine Sodium Chloride
• Life requires 25
essential
elements; some
are called trace
elements

• Without iron, your

body cannot
transport oxygen
• Iron deficiency
anemia
• Trace elements are common additives to
food and water
• Some trace elements are required to
prevent disease
– Without iron, your body cannot transport
oxygen
– An iodine deficiency prevents production of
thyroid hormones, resulting in goiter

Figure 2.2A
Goiter, a symptom of iodine deficiency
 • Trace elements are common additives to food and
water

• Fluoride is added to municipal water and dental

products to help reduce tooth decay(‫)اضمحالل‬

Figure 2.2B. Mouthwash and toothpaste with added fluoride

 Atomic Structure

• The atomic theory states that elements are made of tiny particles
called atoms.
• Number of protons and the number of neutrons determine an
(element's mass number):
 mass number = protons + neutrons
• the total number of protons and neutrons in an atom of an
atom is represented by the atomic symbol
– Hydrogen = H
– Sodium = Na (Natrium)
– Chloride = Cl
Atomic Structure
 Atomic Structure

• The number of protons in a nucleus is called the atomic

number and always equals the number of electrons in orbit
about that nucleus

• The atomic number and mass number are often included with the
chemical symbol.

C
Mass number 12
Chemical symbol
Atomic number 6

The atomic mass is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons
The Periodic Table

Noble
gases
(inert)
 Isotopes ‫النظائر‬

If an atom has the same number of protons but a different

number of neutrons it is an isotope.
 Isotopes
• The nucleus of an isotope can be unstable and may
disintegrate or decay

• Decaying isotopes emit radiation.

• Radiation can be detected with instruments such as a

Geiger counter.
Uses of Radioactive Isotopes

• Radioactive isotopes can be used as

tracers to follow the movement of that
element.

• Radioactive isotopes can be used to

sterilize medical and dental instruments.

• Radioactive isotopes can also be used to

kill cancer cells.
Uses of Radioactive Isotopes (cont.)

Use of radioactive iodine

 Uses of Radioactive Isotopes
• An imaging instrument that uses positron-emission tomography
(PET) detects the location of injected radioactive materials

• PET is useful for diagnosing heart disorders, cancer, and in brain

research.

Healthy person Alzheimer’s patient

PET images of brains of a healthy person (left) and a person with

Alzheimer’s disease (right)
 Arrangements of electrons in an atom

• Electrons encircle the nucleus of an atom at discrete energy

levels called electron shells.

• The electrons in the outer valence shell determine the chemical

reactivity of atoms.

• Electrons are found in different electron shells each with a

characteristic average distance and energy level

• The first shell is closest to the nucleus and have the lowest
potential energy
• Electrons in the second have more energy and so on ..
• Potential energy(‫)الطاقة الكامنة‬: is energy that is
stored – or conserved - in an object or
substance

• Atom electrons potential energy

Low potential energy

High potential energy

• The chemical behavior of an atom depends mostly on
the number of electrons in its outermost shell

• Those are called valence electrons and the shell is

called the outermost shell (valence shell)
• An atom with a completed valence shell is
unreactive, it will not interact with other atoms
Molecules:
 are made of atoms that are bonded together
 can be made of the same atom or different atoms
• If the molecule has more than one type of element
present it is a compound.
• A compound is a molecule made of atoms from
different elements.

• All compounds are molecules, but not all molecules

are compounds

• Hydrogen gas (H2) is a molecule, but not a compound

because it is made of only one element
 Orbit
• Orbit: A region of space within an atom where an
electron in a given subshell can be found. Any orbital
can hold a maximum of 2 electrons with opposite spin

• No more than 2 electrons can occupy a single orbital

• The four orbitals of the second electron shell can hold

up to 8 electrons , 2 in each orbital
 Electron arrangements of important
elements of life

7
6
1 N
H C 14
8

1
12 O
16

Number of Neutrons: 0

1 Valence electron 4 Valence electrons 5 Valence electrons 6 Valence electrons

 Types of Chemical Bonds

• Different types of bonds hold molecules and compounds together.

• Atoms can lose, gain, or share electrons to satisfy octet rule (fill
outermost shell)
 octet rule refers to the tendency of atoms to prefer to have eight
electrons in the valence shell. When atoms have fewer than eight
electrons, they tend to react and form more stable compounds

• Two main types of Chemical Bonds

 Ionic bond: Atoms gain or lose electrons
 Covalent bond: Atoms share electrons
 Types of Chemical Bonds
• Charged atoms, or ions, can form when atoms lose or
gain electrons
• Two ions with opposite charges attract each other

• When the attraction holds the ions together, it is called

an ionic bond
• Positive and negative ions are attracted to one another and
bond together in ionic bonds
• A salt is a dry solid composed of atoms connected
by ionic bonds
• Results in a stable outer shell
 Types of Chemical Bonds
Ionic reaction

• An ion is an atom or molecule

with an electrical charge
resulting from gain or loss of
electrons
Two Types of Ions:
Anions: Negatively
charged particle (Cl-)
Cations: Positively
charged particle (Na+)

Crystals Arrangement of Na & Cl

ions in one salt crystal
 Covalent Bond
• A covalent bond results when two atoms share electrons,
thereby completing their valence shells.

• When molecules contain covalent bonds, the structure of the

molecule can be drawn with a formula or model.

• Atoms in a covalently bonded molecule continually

compete for shared electrons
 The attraction (pull) for shared electrons is called
electronegativity
 More electronegative atoms pull harder
 Unequal electron sharing
creates polar molecules

 In molecules of only one

element, the pull toward
each atom is equal, because
each atom has the same
electronegativity, The
bonds formed are called
nonpolar covalent bonds
Unequal electron sharing creates polar
molecules

• In H2O the oxygen atom has a slight negative

charge and the hydrogens have a slight positive
charge

(slightly -)

• Water has atoms with different

electronegativities,
 Oxygen attracts the shared electrons more
strongly than hydrogen
 So, the shared electrons spend more time
near oxygen (slightly +) (slightly +)
 The result is a polar covalent bond
 Hydrogen bonds are weak bonds important
in the chemistry of life

• Hydrogen, as part of a polar covalent bond, will

share attractions with other electronegative
atoms
 Examples are oxygen and nitrogen
 Because the positively charged region is always
a hydrogen atom, the bond is called a hydrogen
bond
 Molecule 1

Hydrogen bond

Molecule 2
Molecule 5

Molecule 3

Molecule 4
Polar water molecules are attracted to one
another and can form hydrogen bonds.
 Chemical Reactions
• When molecules or compounds are chemically changed
it is called a chemical reaction.

 Reactants & products

Chemical Reactions
The chemical reaction for photosynthesis
Energy
6 CO2 + 6 H2O → + 6 O2
carbon C6H12O6
oxygen
dioxide
water
glucose

• Molecules that participate in a reaction are

reactants ‫المواد المتفاعلة‬

• Molecules formed by a reaction are products ‫المواد‬

‫الناتجة‬