Ribo-This is short for ribose and it is a pentose sugar. Contrast this with the sugar group in DNA which is dexoyribose. Nucleic-Refers to the fact that it originates in the nucleus.
DNA is a double helix formed by base pairs attached to a sugar-phosphate backbone. DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms.
DNA: Double Helix. The secondary structure of DNA is actually very similar to the secondary structure of proteins. The protein single alpha helix structure held together by hydrogen bonds was discovered with the aid of X-ray diffraction studies. The X-ray diffraction patterns for DNA show somewhat similar patterns.