13. What are nucleic acids made of?
Nucleic acids are made of long chains of nucleotides. Each nucleotide consists of three components: a phosphate group, a five-carbon sugar (either ribose in RNA or deoxyribose in DNA), and a nitrogenous base (which can be adenine, thymine (in DNA), uracil (in RNA), cytosine, or guanine).
14. The prefix mono means one and the prefix poly means many. How are these meanings related to the terms monomer and polymer?
The term "monomer" refers to a single, small, repeating unit that can bind to other similar units to form larger structures. The prefix "mono" indicates that there is just one of these units. In contrast, the term "polymer" refers to a large molecule that is made up of many monomers linked together. The prefix "poly" indicates a multitude or many of these repeating units. Therefore, monomers serve as the building blocks that join together to create polymers.
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