Chapter 2 - The Chemistry of Life

These notes cover the basics of chemistry from an undergraduate biology course. The contents include topics such as matter, elements, atoms, atomic numbers and weights, protons, neutrons, electrons, types of subatomic particles, the three isotopes of carbon, where protons, neutrons, and electrons are located in the atom, what an element's atomic number indicates, what the difference between atomic mass and an element's atomic weight is, how chemical bonds link atoms, compounds, orbitals and electron shells, vacancies, valence electrons, orbital location, how electron shells determine bonding patterns, covalent bonds, electronegativity, non-polar covalent bonds, polar covalent bonds, hydrogen bonds, ionic bonds, the chemical basis of various types of bonds and atoms, the structure of various types of molecules, nucleic acids, and so much more!!