Biomolecules Word Search

Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, each with its building blocks and bonds, plus the lab tests that find them.

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IGCLPBMTSHTMHEN

AAAILNYIFLSEBNN

GDRPCELLULOSEZS

UNBIOMOLECULEYC

CAODDSPPWNIANMA

WGHMONOMERMLUER

TLYHMYLEJFROCLB

HYDROLYSISBALLO

UCRNMZMJPROTEIN

SEAAPYEZSTEROID

TRTTNRRUORTSTYH

AOENUCLEICACIDC

RLIQAMINOACIDTO

CTWHNPGLUCOSESB

HSUGARCLWWNWLPL

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BiomoleculeBIOMOLECULE
MonomerMONOMER
PolymerPOLYMER
LipidLIPID
CarbonCARBON
HydrolysisHYDROLYSIS
CarbohydrateCARBOHYDRATE
GlucoseGLUCOSE
StarchSTARCH
CelluloseCELLULOSE
SugarSUGAR
GlycerolGLYCEROL
SteroidSTEROID
ProteinPROTEIN
Amino acidAMINO ACID
EnzymeENZYME
Nucleic acidNUCLEIC ACID
NucleotideNUCLEOTIDE
DNADNA
RNARNA

20 words from the Biomolecules Key Terms list.

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Answer key: Biomolecules Word Search

IGCLPBMTSHTMHEN

AAAILNYIFLSEBNN

GDRPCELLULOSEZS

UNBIOMOLECULEYC

CAODDSPPWNIANMA

WGHMONOMERMLUER

TLYHMYLEJFROCLB

HYDROLYSISBALLO

UCRNMZMJPROTEIN

SEAAPYEZSTEROID

TRTTNRRUORTSTYH

AOENUCLEICACIDC

RLIQAMINOACIDTO

CTWHNPGLUCOSESB

HSUGARCLWWNWLPL

BIOMOLECULE, MONOMER, POLYMER, LIPID, CARBON, HYDROLYSIS, CARBOHYDRATE, GLUCOSE, STARCH, CELLULOSE, SUGAR, GLYCEROL, STEROID, PROTEIN, AMINO ACID, ENZYME, NUCLEIC ACID, NUCLEOTIDE, DNA, RNA

Next step Type in the terms from your own biochemistry notes Sort the four groups on a graphic organizer

All 125 words

How Biomolecules Are Built 21

Amino The NH2 group, built on nitrogen, that one family of acids is named for.
Biomolecule Loosely, any molecule that a living organism makes and needs for a life process.
Carbon Element 6; each of its atoms can form up to four covalent links.
Carboxyl The group COOH, which makes a molecule an organic acid.
Condensation A reaction that joins two molecules into one and, most often, sheds a small one.
Covalent Describes a link made when two neighbors share pairs of electrons.
Dehydration A reaction that loses H2O; when it joins two molecules, it is how polymers grow.
Hydrogen Element 1, the lightest and most abundant in the universe.
Hydrolysis A reaction that uses one molecule of H2O to break a chemical link; it takes large molecules apart.
Hydroxyl The functional group OH: one oxygen bonded to one hydrogen.
Lipid The one group of the four that includes fats, waxes and sterols.
Macromolecule A molecule of very high mass built from many repeats of smaller units.
Monomer A small molecule that can react with others like it to form a long chain.
Nitrogen Element 7, found in every amino acid and in the bases of DNA.
Organic Describes compounds built on carbon-to-carbon and carbon-to-hydrogen links.
Oxygen Element 8, a highly reactive nonmetal: the O in the groups OH and COOH.
Phosphorus Element 15, a part of DNA, RNA, ATP and phospholipids.
Polymer A very large molecule built of many repeating subunits.
Ring The closed-loop form that a simple sugar of five or six carbons takes in water.
Sulfur Element 16, found in the amino acids cysteine and methionine.
Water H2O: given off when two subunits join, used up when they are split apart.

Show all 125 words (104 more)

Carbohydrates 20

Amylopectin The highly branched part of starch, which does not dissolve in water.
Amylose The part of starch, about a fifth to a quarter of it, with a tightly packed helix.
Carbohydrate The group of the four that stores energy and builds plant cell walls; its simple members are sweet.
Cellulose The straight-chain material, hundreds to thousands of units long, of green plants' cell walls.
Chitin A polysaccharide of fungal cell walls and of the outer skeletons of insects and crustaceans.
Disaccharide A double sugar: two simple sugars joined by one linkage.
Fructose Fruit sugar, a simple sugar found in honey, fruits and berries.
Galactose A simple sugar that differs from glucose at one carbon atom.
Glucose C6H12O6; plants and most algae make it in photosynthesis.
Glycogen The many-branched chains of glucose that animals and fungi keep as an energy store.
Glycosidic Describes the bond that joins a sugar to another sugar or to another group.
Hexose Any simple sugar built on six carbon atoms.
Maltose Malt sugar: two glucose units joined together.
Monosaccharide A simple sugar, the single unit that larger carbohydrates are built from.
Pentose Any simple sugar built on five carbon atoms.
Polysaccharide A long chain, straight or branched, of many simple sugar units.
Ribose A five-carbon simple sugar, C5H10O5, that is part of every RNA unit.
Starch What most green plants make to store energy: wheat, potatoes, rice and corn are full of it.
Sucrose The main part of white table sugar: one glucose joined to one fructose.
Sugar A sweet-tasting compound that dissolves in water; simple kinds have one unit, double kinds two.

Lipids 19

Adipose Describes the body tissue, made mostly of fat cells, whose main job is storing energy.
Cholesterol The main sterol of animals, a part of every animal cell membrane.
Double bond A carbon-to-carbon link, written C=C, found in unsaturated chains.
Fats Lipids that stay solid, or nearly so, at room temperature; chemically, mostly triglycerides.
Fatty acid A carboxylic compound with a long chain of carbon atoms, saturated or unsaturated.
Glycerol The three-carbon alcohol, with an OH on each carbon, at the core of a fat molecule.
Hydrocarbon A compound made of hydrogen and carbon only.
Hydrophilic Describes a molecule that is attracted to water and tends to dissolve in it.
Hydrophobic Describes a molecule that water seems to push away.
Lecithin A group of yellow-brown fatty substances that attract both water and fat.
Nonpolar The opposite of polar; water-fearing molecules tend to be this.
Oil A fat that is liquid at room temperature.
Omega The Greek letter that numbers the far, methyl end of a long carbon chain.
Phospholipid A lipid with a water-loving phosphate head and two water-fearing chains.
Saturated Describes a fat whose carbon chains hold single bonds only.
Steroid A compound whose molecule has four fused rings.
Tail The long hydrocarbon chain of a phospholipid, one of two.
Triglyceride A fat molecule: glycerol joined to three long acid chains.
Wax A lipid that is a soft solid near room temperature and does not dissolve in water.

Proteins 23

Active site The region where an enzyme holds the molecule it works on while the reaction happens.
Alpha helix A coil of the chain, the most common pattern of secondary structure.
Amino acid One of the units, each with an NH2 group and a COOH group, that link into a long folded chain.
Amylase The enzyme, present in human saliva, that breaks starch down into sugars.
Antibody A large protein the immune system uses to find and neutralize bacteria and viruses.
Beta sheet A pleated pattern of secondary structure: strands side by side, joined by hydrogen bonds.
Casein The family of proteins that makes up about 80 percent of the protein in cow's milk.
Catalyst A substance that raises the rate of a reaction and comes out of it unchanged.
Collagen The main structural protein of connective tissue; no protein is more plentiful in mammals.
Denature To make a protein lose its folded shape, as heat or a strong acid can.
Dipeptide A compound made from exactly two amino acids.
Disulfide A sulfur-to-sulfur bridge that can pin two parts of a protein together.
Enzyme A biological catalyst: it speeds up one chemical reaction and is not used up by it.
Fibrous Describes a protein of long, thread-like chains that form filaments and sheets.
Fold To take up a three-dimensional shape, as a new chain of amino acids does.
Globular Describes a compact, roughly spherical protein that is somewhat soluble in water.
Hemoglobin The iron-containing protein of red blood cells that carries oxygen.
Lock and key The model of 1894 in which an enzyme and its substrate have shapes that fit exactly.
Peptide bond The covalent link between two neighboring amino acids in a chain.
Polypeptide One long chain of amino acids with no branches.
Protein The group of the four that speeds up reactions, gives structure and carries other molecules.
R group The side chain, the part that differs from one amino acid to the next.
Substrate The molecule that an enzyme acts on.

Nucleic Acids 21

Adenine The base A; it pairs with T in DNA and with U in RNA.
ATP Adenosine triphosphate, a nucleotide that cells use to carry energy.
Backbone The chain of alternating sugars and phosphates along each strand.
Base pair Two nucleobases on opposite strands joined to each other: A with T, G with C.
Cytosine The base C, found in both DNA and RNA.
Deoxyribose The five-carbon sugar of DNA: ribose with one hydroxy group replaced by hydrogen.
DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid: two chains coiled around each other, carrying genetic instructions.
Double helix The shape of DNA: two strands wound around each other.
Guanine The base G; in DNA it pairs with C.
Hydrogen bond The attraction that holds two paired bases, and so two strands, together.
Nitrogenous Containing nitrogen: the word for the bases A, C, G, T and U.
Nucleic acid The group of the four that stores and expresses genetic information.
Nucleoside A base joined to a five-carbon sugar, with no phosphate group.
Nucleotide A unit of a pentose, a base and one or more phosphates that links into a genetic chain.
Phosphate The group that a nucleoside lacks and a nucleotide has.
Phosphodiester Describes the bond that links the sugar of one nucleotide to the sugar of the next.
Purine A base built on two fused rings; A and G are this kind.
Pyrimidine A base built on one six-membered ring; C, T and U are this kind.
RNA Ribonucleic acid; the messenger kind is a template that the cell reads.
Thymine The base T, found in DNA and replaced in RNA.
Uracil The base U, found in RNA where DNA has T.

Testing for Biomolecules 21

Alkaline Describes a mixture with a pH above 7; the protein test needs one.
Benedict The American chemist whose clear blue copper mixture reveals certain sugars.
Biuret The test for peptide bonds, named for a compound that its own reagent does not contain.
Blue black The intense, dark color that tells you starch is present.
Brick red The final color of a strong sugar test that started clear blue.
Cloudy How the water looks when dissolved fat falls out of the alcohol.
Dye A colored substance that dissolves and can bind to the material it colors.
Emulsion A mix of fine droplets of one liquid in another; a milky one shows a lipid is present.
Ethanol The alcohol in which the food is suspended first in the lipid test, so that lipids dissolve.
Green The color of the precipitate when the sugar test finds only a little.
Iodine The element whose solution is the usual test for starch.
Negative Describes a result that shows no sign of the substance tested for.
Orange The color of the sugar test one level of sugar below red.
Positive Describes a result that shows the substance tested for is there.
Precipitate A solid that forms in a liquid mixture and settles out of it.
Purple The color the copper mixture turns when protein is present.
Reagent A substance put into a mixture to cause a reaction, or to see whether one occurs.
Reducing Describes a sugar that can donate electrons to another substance; every simple sugar is one.
Sample A small amount of a material, taken to stand for the whole of it.
Sudan The family of fat-loving colorings, numbered II, III and IV, that stain lipids.
Water bath Where the tubes of the sugar test stand to be heated for several minutes.

How it works

This biomolecules word search opens on the four groups, Carbohydrate, Lipid, Protein and Nucleic acid, beside what each is built from: Glucose, Glycerol, Amino acid and Nucleotide. Monomer, Polymer, Enzyme and Hydrolysis are four of the other twelve words.

Read the full guide

One list for each of the four groups

Start from a list has Carbohydrates with 20 words, from Monosaccharide to Amylopectin. Lipids has 19, such as Triglyceride, Phospholipid and Cholesterol. Proteins has 23, with Peptide bond, Alpha helix and Active site. Nucleic Acids has 21: the five bases, Purine, Pyrimidine, Double helix.

Bonds, elements and the lab

How Biomolecules Are Built has 21 words on elements, groups and reactions, such as Dehydration, Condensation and Carboxyl. Testing for Biomolecules has 21: Benedict, Biuret, Iodine and Sudan, with the colors of a positive result, Brick red, Purple and Blue black.

Amino acid, Nucleic acid, Peptide bond and 12 more two-word entries hide closed up: AMINOACID.

Questions and answers

What are the four types of biomolecules?

Carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids. Carbohydrates store energy and build cell walls. Lipids include fats, waxes and sterols. Proteins speed up reactions, give structure and carry molecules. Nucleic acids, DNA and RNA, store and express genetic information.

What elements make up biomolecules?

Mostly oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen: those four make up 96% of the mass of the human body. Nucleic acids and phospholipids also hold phosphorus, and two of the amino acids in proteins, cysteine and methionine, hold sulfur.

What is the difference between dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis?

Dehydration synthesis joins two molecules into one and gives off a molecule of water. Hydrolysis runs the other way: a molecule of water is used up to break a bond, which splits a large biomolecule into its parts.

How do you test for biomolecules?

Benedict's reagent goes from clear blue to brick red when heated with a reducing sugar. Iodine turns starch blue-black. The biuret test turns purple with protein. In the emulsion test, a lipid dissolved in ethanol turns water cloudy white.

Is there an answer key for the biomolecules word search?

Yes, on its own page after the puzzle, Letter or A4. Tick Show clues, not words to turn the sheet into a vocabulary check: Glycerol then prints as "The three-carbon alcohol, with an OH on each carbon, at the core of a fat molecule."

All 125 words

How Biomolecules Are Built 21

Carbohydrates 20

Lipids 19

Proteins 23

Nucleic Acids 21

Testing for Biomolecules 21

How it works

One list for each of the four groups

Bonds, elements and the lab

Questions and answers

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