what is meant by free radical?and why should we study?

Answer 1

Our metabolism creates free oxygen radicals. Normally an oxygen atom has 6 electrons in its pi orbital (outer orbit.. with two in the s orbial on the inside). An oxygen free radical has an extra electron and it makes the oxygen atom VERY reactive. It then travels through the body and tries to react with materials on the outside of our cells or inside of our cells and can cause all sorts of problems in our cells, like a chain reaction it passes that extra electron off to places where it doesn't belong and becomes harmful and sometimes kills our cells.

We have natural mechanisms to fight this process with the help of the enzyme superoxide dismutase. This enzyme is VERY powerful in that it speeds up the rate of reaction mure than usually possible because it has signals all over its surface to hone in the substrate. Without a good amount of these enzymes people suffer horribly.

Antioxidants are things we can eat in our diet which naturally diffuse these oxygen radicals. Certain vitamins and other compounds can be helpful in disarming the oxygen free-radicals of that problematic extra electron by either picking it up in a less harmful way, or by allowing the oxygen radical to bind to it, or by catalyzing a reaction between the oxygen radical and some other substrate.

It is clearly important to study this mechanism further so that we can find effective ways of preventing the damage that free radicals can cause... because if we do that we can prevent cell death which is what ages us, can cause cancer (because sometimes the cells that grow back after death of the old cells grow back with mutations that make them keep growing), and causes some diseases.

Hope that helped!

Answer 2

A free radical has to do with body chemistry at the molecular level. Allegedly a free radical is an atom which can steal an electron from the nearest stable atom. It is also alleged that vitamin E and C also known as anti-oxidants can help eliminate this process. Its believed that the aging process is contributed by these free radicals and if you decrease their effect in essence you slow the aging process. Check out the reference.

Answer 3

i dont no