A knowledge of basic chemistry is important for understanding just about any area of biology from the function of cells to the behavior of organisms and the ecological relationships between organisms and their environment.

Indeed, chemists are fond of teasing biologists by claiming that all biology is chemistry*. While this isn't quite true, in order to make sense of the structure of cells and organisms a little chemistry goes a long way."Ball and Stick" Model of a Heme group. This group is part of a larger molecule, hemoglobin. Grey=Carbon, Blue= Nitrogen, Red= Oxygen. Hydrogens not shown.Of course the physicists say that all chemistry is physics!