Question

How does a carbon atom form lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and proteins?

Answer 1

Hint: Lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and proteins are the biological macromolecules made up of fatty acid and glycerol, monosaccharides, nucleotides, and amino acids, respectively.

Complete answer:
Biological macromolecules like carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleotides are organic molecules. Carbohydrates provide the cell with short term energy, lipids provide long term energy to the cells, proteins provide cell structure as well as signaling, and nucleotides store and pass genetic information from one generation to another.
The basic component of all these molecules is the carbon atom. Carbon has an atomic number six where it has two electrons in the first orbital and four electrons in the valence shell therefore the valency of carbon will be four. Therefore it can form a covalent bond with other atoms.
Lipids consist of a phosphate group with a nitrogen base at one end and two fatty acids. Carbon atom forms single covalent bonds with a carbon atom and a hydrogen atom to form saturated fatty acids. Sometimes a carbon can form a double bond with an adjacent carbon atom forming unsaturated fatty acid.
Carbohydrates consist of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. There are three types: monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. Monosaccharides are simple sugar molecules having carbon bonded to hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The monosaccharides are bound together by a type of covalent bond called a glycosidic bond.
A nucleic acid is made up of nucleotides, a chain of five-carbon sugar molecules, a phosphate bond, and a nitrogen base.
In proteins, the amino acids having an amino group, a carboxyl group, and a side chain are linked together to form long chains. The carbon atom forms a backbone form of amino acids.

Hence, we can say that carbon atoms form different types of covalent bonds with other atoms to form lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleotides.

Note:
The glycosidic bond is a type of covalent bond where a hydrogen atom from one sugar is given out and a hydroxyl group is given out from another sugar to form the bond and gives out a water molecule also known as a dehydration synthesis reaction.