Unit 2 Reflection

          This unit was about the big four macromolecules: carbohydrates, nucleic acids, proteins, and lipids. There were many themes and essential understandings that were very important, but for carbohydrates, we learned that there are monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. The more rings there are, the less sweet it is, and the less rings there are, the more sweet it is. Carbohydrates are very important because they store energy in our body and carry out many essential functions in our body for us to survive.
          In addition to learning about carbohydrates, we also learned about lipids. Lipids and carbohydrates have somewhat a similar function which is to store energy, but they are different in many ways. Lipids are large molecules that include fats, phospholipids, oils, waxes, and cholesterol. A phospholipid has a tail and a head and the head is hydrophilic, which means it likes water. However, the tail is hydrophobic, meaning that it stays away from water. Lipids mainly store energy, but they also make up cell membranes, and are sometimes used to make hormones.
          We also learned about nucleic acids. Nucleic acids are composed of up to thousands of repeating nucleotides. Nucleotides are made up of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogen containing molecule called a base. Nucleotides bond together to make either one or two strands. If it bonds to create two strands, then it becomes DNA. If it has one bond, it is RNA. DNA serves as a blueprint for making proteins and is a source of information passed from generation to generation.
         A strength that I have is that I understand nucleic acids and proteins really well, but weakness that I have is that I get confused sometimes with the different functions of carbohydrates and lipids a lot of the time. Some successes is that I finally understand what enzymes do and that they are really essential to our body, and I now know that DNA has two strands while RNA has one. A weakness that I have is that I get confused a lot between whether the head is hydrophilic or the tail is hydrophilic and the other way around.
          I learned a lot about this unit. I learned all about the big four macromolecules. I also learned about all the functions of each and every one of the macromolecules. Lastly, I would like to learn more about proteins in specific because it really interested me the most out of all the macromolecules.