Kristy Archambault's Digital Scavenger Hunt Set 2

          This picture is of common table salt found in almost everyone's homes. Salt is an example of a compound which can be defined as a substance containing two or more elements in a fixed ratio. In salt (NaCl), the two elements used are sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl). For each sodium atom there is always a chlorine atom to keep a fixed ratio of 1:1. Compounds are important because they are what make up everything around us. Everything in the world is either an element or a compound, so without compounds many things in the universe would not exist. In addition to elements, humans are made up of various compounds such as carbohydrates. lipids, proteins, nucleotides, and water; therefore, without compounds the human race would cease to exist. 

           This is a lake which is near my house and serves as an ecosystem. An ecosystem is all the organisms in a given area, along with the abiotic factors that are interacted with. In this ecosystem the biotic factors would be the living organisms such as fish, birds, squirrels, and vegetation while the abiotic factors would be the water, sand, and rocks. Ecosystems are important because it's where everything in nature interacts with each other, it's where communities are, and where animals live and hunt for food. According to life's levels of organization ecosystem is the second to highest level directly under biosphere with community, population, organism, organ system, organ, tissue, cell, organelle, and molecule following in the levels below. 

          This is a wholphin that I saw when I went to Sea Life Park in Hawaii a few summers ago.The wholphin is half bottlenose dolphin and half false killer whale, the mother being the dolphin and the father being the false killer whale. This wholphin is a prime example of a hybrid, which is the offspring of parents of two different species or of two different varieties of species. Hybrids are significant in life because they create diversity and sometimes are created for specific characteristics. For example, the cama (hybrid of a camel with a llama) was created in Dubai. Scientists made this hybrid hoping for ideal characteristics to help better their society. The scientists hoped the cama would be as big and strong as the camel, but be easier to deal with and give mass quantities of wool like the llama. While many hybrids are made in laboratories, many hybrids do commonly happen in the wild.   

           Water is all around us; water makes up the majority of the human body and the majority of the earth's surface. Water is held together by hydrogen bonds which are a type of weak chemical bonds formed when the partially positive hydrogen atom participating in a polar covalent bond in one molecule is attracted to the partially negative atom participating in a polar covalent bond in another molecule. In short, hydrogen bonds are what keep atoms of water together. In a molecule of water, the hydrogen atom is partially positive while the oxygen atom is partially negative which allows four other electronegative atoms or in this case four more molecules of water to bond to this one single molecule of water. Hydrogen bonds are significant for many reasons such as helping to make a proteins shape, holding the two strands of a DNA molecule together, making water cohesive, and moderating temperatures in water. 

          This is a common bar of soap that can be found in anyone's home; soap is a perfect example of a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic molecule. A hydrophilic molecule is "water loving" which pertains to polar, or charged, molecules that are soluble in water. A hydrophobic molecule is "water fearing" which pertains to nonpolar molecules that don't dissolve in water. Soap is made with sodium hydroxide, different kinds of fats, and oils. The scientific makeup of soap is a hydrocarbon chain with carbon and hydrogen in the tail and carbon and oxygen in the head. In soap the "head" is hydrophillic and attracted to water while the "tail" is hydrophobic and attracted to substances such as grease. In this specific case, the hydrophilic head and hydrophobic tail is important because water itself cannot clean off grease, so the head of the molecule attracts the water while the tail attracts to and lifts grease allowing the grease to be washed away. This is only one of the reasons why hydrophilic and hydrophobic molecules are important, these molecules are all around and explain many things in nature. 

           Butter is a prime example of a saturated fat. Saturated fats are fats and fatty acids whose hydrocarbon chains contain the maximum number of hydrogens and have no double covalent bonds. This basically means that the molecules are packed close together and cannot attract more hydrogen atoms. Saturated fats come from animals and are usually solid at room temperature. Saturated fats and fats in general are a significant part of human life because they help to insulate the body, protect organs, and balance hormones. On the other hand having too many saturated fats can result in many cardiovascular diseases and illnesses such as heart attacks; therefore, saturated fats need to be taken in moderation.  

           Grapes and many other fruits such as apples have waxes and oils on their surface to act as a coating. Waxes are lipids that consist of a fatty acid linked to an alcohol. Waxes are very hydrophobic which is what allows water to bead on its surface such as the water on the surface of this grape. Waxes and oils aren't only used on fruits to keep the insides juicy, they are also very important because they're used on animals and insects to keep them from drying out. For example, hummingbirds haves waxes on their feathers which allow them to fly through the rain without their wings getting soaked to the point where they can't fly. Additionally, ducks have oils on their feathers that help them from getting soaked which makes it easier for them to float on top of water. If their feathers absorbed the water, the ducks would be heavier which would make it more difficult for them to stay afloat.