Radicals

[Jessica Castellanos]

Can someone explain what radicals are and why they're important?

[Shannon Asay 1C]

Radicals are compounds with unpaired electrons. They're highly reactive because of this. In bodies, radicals can damage DNA because they react with it.

[Michelle Chan 1J]

For example, CH3 is a radical because there is an unpaired electron. Food supplements, such as vitamins, can react with radicals before they cause damage.

[Fiona Latifi 1A]

Radicals also only exist for a short amount of time because they are so reactive. Food supplements can react with radicals in the body before they cause damage to DNA, which is why it's important to eat plenty of vitamins and nutrients!

[Michelle N - 2C]

Like what everyone said, radicals are basically when the elements are highly reactive since they have unpaired electron(s). This can be noted when there's only one lone pair (the dot) seen instead of two. Most natural elements tend to be in the lowest energy state possible. Therefore, radicals don't tend to exist that long since they try to make themselves at the lowest energy state possible.

[Victoria Otuya 4F]

I was taught that the radicals are when a molecule or an atom contains one unpaired electron. For example HF.

[Pipiena Malafu 3J]

As being mentioned above, radicals are unpaired electrons that can affect DNA. Thinking of this biologically, the possibility of mutations and such occurring in the DNA due to unpaired electrons is much more likely. A way to think of it is to imagine a population where there is just enough food for each individual. However, if someone has nothing, they're more likely to tap into another individual and their share of food until everyone starts to. Basically, the unpaired electron will try to bond with whatever is positive and nearest to it which can affect stable chemical bonds and such.

[Jingyao Chen 4H]

Adding on, free radicals is one of the theory regarding human aging. Some people believes that because of these free radicals that go around and damage cellular contents, the resulting consequence is the process of human aging.

[Jordan Ziegler 2J]

Like Professor Lavelle said in class, radicals are also formed through a high energy catalyst. The examples of a photon hitting a water molecule in the upper atmosphere to form hydroxide or the formation of methyl during the burning of hydrocarbons show that radicals are formed under non-standard conditions (low pressure, high temperature). Therefore, they won't last very long in standard conditions.

[Junxi Feng 3B]

Radicals have unpaired electrons. A rough guideline: any total electron number that cannot be divided by 2 is a radical.
They are important because midterm or final will ask questions about radicals and they might relate to your future field of study. More practically speaking, radicals are highly reactive due to their unpaired electrons.