SC 135 - First Exam 1997

On the line to the left, place the letter of the choice that best answers the question.
NOTE: "e" answers are never the correct answer. Five Points Each.

1. All of the energy-using chemical reactions in an organism are combined in

                    a. Its overall weight             b. Its respiration             c. Its metabolism
                    d. Its waste production                     e. An icky, sticky mess

2. Which species name is right according to the rules?

                    a. Studentis nuttyis                     b. Idunnode Answer
                    c. lemmego homiae                    d. allkillus Professorus
                    e. It's safe to say that there's no rules about what terms you can use...

3. When experimental results disagree with the original hypothesis, this goes under what heading, according to classic Scientific Method?

                    a. Confounding factors                 b. Nonevidence                 c. Control
                    d. Null hypothesis                                         e. Something unprintable

4. A mutation is a

                    a. Particular type of protein                     b. A change in genetic code
                    c. A new blend of parents' traits              d. Trait of asexual reproducers only
                            e. A bus terminal where the PA speakers don't work

5. That particular part or aspect of the hypothesis that gets tested in an experiment:

                    a. Variable                     b. Placebo                     c. Control
                    d. Result                                         e. The testee

6. A doctor looks at a dark spot on an x-ray and decides that the patient has a sprained ankle. This situation is

                    a. An observation only 
                    b. An hypothesis only
                    c. Both an observation and an hypothesis
                    d. Totally unrelated to the Scientific Method
                    e. Going to cost someone a lot of money

7. If you track the energy backwards on the food chain, eventually you reach its original source in

                    a. Carbon dioxide & water                                     b. Plants
                    c. The Sun                                                            d. All of these
                                        e. Um, really, really fresh food -?

8. Radioactivity in an element comes from

                    a. Unbalanced electrons                         b. An unstable nucleus.
                    c. A loss of protons                               d. Unbalanced charges
                                        e. Too many atomic burritos

9. Which is an example of spontaneous generation?

                    a. Baby snakes hatching from eggs
                    b. Amebas dividing
                    c. A scar forming where a wound was
                    d. Snails forming from rocks on a stream bottom
                    e. I just know that my paycheck does something like the opposite...

10. Which is true about decomposers?

                    a. They recycle all of the energy in "leftover" biological material
                    b. They are a type of producer
                    c. They recycle the materials in "leftover" biological material
                    d. All of the above are true
                    e. Dey write demusic

11. If an experiment requires subjects to rank the strength of a memory from 1 to 5, they're being asked for

                    a. Qualitative data only 
                    b. Quantitative data only
                    c. Quantitative data made into qualitative data
                    d. Qualitative data made into quantitative data
                    e. Some pretty silly stuff

12. Which is true, by definition, about asexual reproduction?

                    a. Offspring have all the same genes
                    b. It may use one or two parents
                    c. Offspring have all the same genes
                    d. Genes "mix and match" at every generation
                    e. Is that what that woman in the news did last year with the turkey baster-?

13. The five Kingdoms given by the textbook include

                    a. 2 Unicellular and 3 Multicellular                 b. 3 Unicellular and 2 Multicellular
                        c. 1 Unicellular and 4 Multicellular                 d. 4 Unicellular and 1 Multicellular
                                e. Lots of slimy things, some stinky things, and some tasty things

SHORT ANSWER. Answer any ten of the following questions for 7 Points Each.

Note: if you answer more than ten, only the first ten will be corrected.

1. When arguments arise over whether a group belongs at one classification level or another, what are the scientists involved not allowed to do, generally?

2. Fill in the charges of each atomic particle:

        Electron ________             Proton ________             Neutron ________

3. Explain what having a control does for an experiment (give a function, not a definition).

4. In what areas is the fossil evidence for evolution strongest?

5. Why might an experiment be considered "pure" science?

6. Science uses two different basic ways to test hypotheses. What are they?

7. Briefly explain how cells, organs, and tissues are related to each other.

8. What are two ways to lower the effects that pure chance will have on a experiment's results?

9. Briefly, what is wrong with saying that your results proved your hypothesis?

10. What is peer review?

11. What is the name of the evolutionary process that "weeds out" those individuals not as well suited to an environment, so that the more successful ones live, reproduce, and pass their successful traits on?

12. Technically, what trait makes an organism a consumer?

13. In an experiment, what is an artifact?

14. Briefly, what is the purpose of respiration in cells?

15. Define what is meant by a colonial organism.

16. Place the following terms in correct sequence, largest to smallest: phylum, species, genus, order, subphylum, family, class, kingdom, superfamily.

17. What exactly is a gene?

18. What is the most current, widely-accepted definition of a species?

19. In what evolutionary way is sexual reproduction superior to asexual reproduction?

LONG ANSWER. 

Answer any five of the following questions for 13 Points Each.
Note: if you answer more than five, only the first five will be corrected.

1. Give four different circumstances of an animal's death or near post-death that are likely to get the animal fossilized.

2. Males make sperm and females make egg cells. In what three ways are the two basically different?

3. Pick an element from the Periodic Table (something other than Hydrogen). For an uncharged atom of that element, give the...

Element Name _________                                     Element Symbol ________

Atomic Number _________                         Most Likely Atomic Weight ________

Number of Protons _________                 Most Likely Number of Neutrons ________

            Number of Electrons __________

4. Briefly explain three confounding factors that can affect an experiment in the design stage.

5. Name and give a particular example for three different ways that biologists determine relationships among organisms.

6. There are general features that all living things have in common. What are four?

7. For four of the five Kingdoms given in the textbook, name the Kingdom and give the trait or combination of traits that make species in that Kingdom absolutely different from species in the other Kingdoms.

9. NAME and DEFINE three levels of interactions between organisms and their environments.

Answer as many as you are able. Wrong answers will not result in points being lost from the main exam.

From a purely scientific standpoint, what should be added to placebo drugs that they do not have? Five Points.

What were the results of the so-called "crack baby nursery test?" Five Points.

When people find bacteria inside "sterilized" meteors from space, where to critics of the experiments say the bacteria actually came from? Five Points.

Photosynthesis is not the only food-starting process on Earth. What supplies the starting energy in the rare other synthesis types? Five Points.

How are elk antlers like an expensive car? (No, it's not a funny riddle) Five Points.

Radioactive materials give off different types of radiation, some of which is much more dangerous than others. Without getting too specific, how do the types differ from each other? You don't need to name the types, just give general ways that they differ on an atomic level. Five Points.