Station: CARBOHYDRATES
p. 168 Name:___________________________________________
The four main classes of organic compounds (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids) that
are essential to the proper functioning of all living things are known as polymers or biomolecules. All of these
compounds are built primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen but in different ratios. This gives each
compound different
properties.
Carbohydrates are used by the body for energy and structural support in cell walls of plants and
exoskeletons of insects and crustaceans. They are made of smaller subunits (also known as monomers) called
monosaccharides.
Monosaccharides have carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a 1:2:1 ratio. Monosaccharides or simple
sugars include glucose, galactose, and fructose. Although their chemical formulas are the same, they have
different structural formulas. These simple sugars combine to make disaccharides (double sugars like
sucrose) and polysaccharides (long chains like cellulose, chitin, and glycogen).
Use your textbook to help draw the structural formulas for glucose and sucrose: (p 168) Yes, you need to label
all the C’s, H’s and O’s!
Glucose (monomer):
Sucrose (sugar):
From your drawing of glucose, how many carbons, hydrogens, and oxygens are in a single molecule?
#C __________
# H __________
# O __________
Look at how glucose and sucrose differ. What was removed to make sucrose? ______________
This is known as dehydration synthesis or condensation. What do you think hydrolysis means?
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Questions:
8. Biomolecules are also known as _______________________.
9. If all the biomolecules are made mainly of the elements CHO, how are they different?
10. Name 2 ways your body uses carbohydrates. _______________ & ___________________________
11. What are the subunits that make up carbohydrates? ____________________Subunits are also known as ___________
12. What is the ratio of C, H, and O in monosaccharides? __________
13. Name 3 monosaccharides.
14. Monosaccharides are ______________ sugars.
15. What are disaccharides & give an example?
16. Long chains of sugars are ______________. Name three.
A. Look at the food example on the table. How many grams of sugar are in 1 serving? __________
B. The potato is also a carbohydrate. Why is it not sweet? ____________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
C. Look at the Coke and Diet Coke at your station. Analyze the nutrition label and predict why you think the Coke sinks.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
D. Build a carbohydrate according to the instructions at your station. This is considered a monosaccharide. Draw a
diagram:
E. Join your carbohydrate with a partner’s and draw. This is called a disaccharide.
F. You and your partner find another pair and join carbohydrates (totaling 4 monomers) and draw. This is called a
polysaccharide.