1. Explain the building blocks
Specification: 3.1.1 · Monomers and polymers
Biological molecules underpin very different organisms because the chemical foundations of life are remarkably similar. A monomer is a smaller molecular unit from which a larger molecule can be made. A polymer consists of many monomer units joined together.
Examples matter. Glucose is a monosaccharide that can be incorporated into polysaccharides; amino acids form polypeptides and nucleotides form polynucleotides. A disaccharide contains two sugar units and is not itself a polymer of many monomers.
Lipids such as triglycerides are large biological molecules, but are not polymers made from repeating monomers in the same sense as starch or proteins.