Mistake Master
Mistake Master · AP Biology · Unit 1 · Step-Through Animation
Every Bond Costs a Water
You'll learnhow monomers link into polymers by releasing one water per bond, and reverse by adding it back.
Almost every large molecule in a cell is the same trick repeated: small units, strung into long chains. Joining two of them removes a water molecule; breaking them apart adds one back. One reaction and its reverse build and dismantle nearly everything you are made of. Twelve short steps; press Next for each one.
one water out per bond built · one water back per bond broken
Before you start
What you're looking at
Four labelled amino-acid monomers laid in a row, ready to be joined head to tail into one polymer chain. The tiles are simplified cartoons; in a real cell, enzymes and ATP drive every join.
The question
When two monomers join into a chain, what leaves — and how many bonds equal how many waters?
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