1. When you make a pot roast, do the hydrogen bonds or the covalent bonds of the meat proteins break? How do you know? (Hint: What happens to the meat when you cook it?)

2. Insulin, a very important hormone, is a polypeptide. Why can't a diabetic take insulin pills? What would the person get from such pills?

3. Suppose the pH of your child's wading pool was too high. What could you add to lower it? What would happen to the pH if you added plain table salt? Explain.

4. An advertisement promotes a line of costly natural vitamins, including one for vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Would the natural vitamin C be any different from a cheap bottle of artificially synthesized ascorbic acid? Would your body be able to tell the difference?

5. A chemist would describe a solution with a pH of 7.2 as being slightly basic. A health professional would describe a blood pH of 7.2 as academic. Explain how these words are used by the two professionals.

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