Question
Question: Why are proteins called giant molecules?...
Why are proteins called giant molecules?
Solution
Hint : Proteins are large, complex polymer molecules that are made up of monomers called amino acids. They do most of the work in cells and are essential for the structure, function, and regulation of the body’s essential parts like tissues and organs.
A substance containing a large number of atoms that are covalently bonded, is called a giant molecule.
Complete Step By Step Answer:
Proteins are the one of the main components of all cells. It plays a lot of important roles in the functional and structural traits of our body such as the cells, tissues and organs. They occupy a prominent part of the protoplasm and have a key role in their vital processes such as transportation and structural stability.
Proteins have a very high molecular weight which ranges from 4500 Daltons to as high as 40 million Daltons. Proteins exist as colloidal particles in cells such as in the protoplasm. Most of the antigens are made of proteins and thus they cannot easily pass through the animal membrane due to their heavy molecular weight and large size. This is the reason why they are referred to as giant molecules or macromolecules.
Note :
Some other examples of giant molecules are silicon, silicon dioxide and allotropic forms of the element carbon called diamond and graphite.
Proteins can also be called macromolecules. This also means that it is a very large polymer made of thousands of repeating monomer units.
The largest known protein is called Titin. It is also called connection and is responsible for passive elasticity of muscles.