What is Biochemistry?
'''Biochemistry''' is the study of [[chemical reaction]]s in living beings, and of biological molecules in general. It is important to [[cell biology]] and [[physiology]]. The study of biochemistry involves [[enzyme]]s, [[nucleic acid]]s, [[carbohydrate]]s, [[sugar]]s, [[protein]]s, and [[lipid]]s. In the body, most of the molecules are [[polymer]]s built of long chains of smaller molecules. Biochemistry studies the chemical transformations which produce these small building-block molecules, and which produce energy from food. A person who studies biochemistry is called a biochemist. ==Macromolecules== The biologic polymers can have between tens of thousands to tens of millions of atoms or more. These polymers are composed of many small molecules, each of which has no more than fifty atoms. These small molecules are made almost exclusively from [[carbon]], [[hydrogen]], [[oxygen]], and [[nitrogen]]. They also contain [[sulfur]], [[phosphorus]], and a few other atoms, which are critical to the biological functioning of these polymers. There are four types of [[macromolecule]]s. ===Nucleic Acids=== [[File:DNA Double Helix.png|thumb|160 px|alt=DNA Double Helix|[[DNA]], a [[nucleic acid]], is made up of a double helix.]] [[Nucleic acid]]s are long chain [[molecules]] which are of two kinds: [[DNA]] and [[RNA]]. Their building blocks are called [[nucleotide]]s. [[DNA]] is found in every cell. It contains the information needed to make all of the nucleic acids and all of the [[protein]]s. It is found joined up in a ''double helix''. It is the substance of [[heredity]]￼ and holds the information which life passes from generation to generation. [[RNA]] acts to make the information from DNA work inside the [[cell]]s of the body. To make a particular protein the information in the DNA is transferred to an RNA molecule. Another RNA molecule uses this as a set of instructions for making the protein. The RNA which makes protein is called a [[ribosome]] and it acts as a [[ribozyme]] vastly increasing the speed with which t