SC 135 - First Exam 1998 - Nights
ANSWER KEY
MULTIPLE CHOICE.
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. Organisms are currently considered to be in different species if
a. They look significantly different
b. They can't produce offspring
c. They wouldn't mate in natural surroundings
d. There's enough differences in their DNA
e. They disagree over whether Titanic was any good
2. Which part of an atom is most closely connected to radioactivity?
a.
Electrons
b.
Protons
c. Neutrons
d.
Cell
e. The radioactive part
3. What factor lends the most reliability to the results of an experiment?
a.
Control
b.
Chance
c. Peer review
d.
Data
e. An extended service contract
4. Respiration is a process done by
a. Producers
only
b. Consumers only
c. Producers and
consumers
d. Decomposers only
e. Perverts on your phone late at night
5. Most fossilized organisms died in an area with
a.
Volcanoes
b. Tar
pits
c. Mud flats
d. Bodies of
water
e. Low property values
6. What kind of reaction would change Ni +3 to Ni +2?
a.
Ionic
b.
Covalent
c. Oxidation
d. Reduction
e. Something that would cost a nickel
7. Surface tension in water is a result of water's
a.
Energy
b.
Adhesion
c. Evaporation
d. Cohesion
e. Um, wetness -?
8. The idea that clams begin as small rocks on the stream bottom is an example of
a. Special
Creation
b. Spontaneous Generation
c. Asexual
Reproduction
d. Fossilization
e. All the stuff in the world that doesn't interest me
9. A Barium (#56) atom would be at its most chemically stable when
a. Totally
uncharged
b. A -2
ion
c. An isotope
d. A +2
ion
e. After lots of therapy
10. The part of an experiment that is actually being tested is the
a.
Control
b.
Observation
c. Variable
d.
Focus
e. Testicle - no, that can't be right...
11. In an ecosystem,
a. Energy and materials get
recycled
b. Energy alone is recycled
c. Energy and materials are
lost
d. Materials alone are recycled
e. Lots of pretty nasty stuff happens all the time
12. Which is an allowable species name?
a. Studius Fultonius
b. Studius dimwitius
c. studius neverstudius
d. studius Muttonheadius
e. At this point, I'm ready to allow pretty much anything...
13. An organism made up of individuals that can live independently on their own is known as a
a. Colonial
organism
b. Community organism
c. Organismal
d. Collective organism
e. Multiple-personality disorder organism
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. Give the basic difference between:
|
Pure Science Done just to gain knowledge |
Applied Science Done to find things that can be put to use. |
2. In an experiment, what is an artifact?
...a result produced accidentally just by the procedures of an experiment, not by the variable
3. Just about all of the energy used by living things can be traced back to what ultimate source?
...the sun
4. What are two relationship types found between species that can lead to changes in form?
...there are several - plant-eater / plant, predator / prey, parasite /
host,
pollinator / pollen-maker, etc.
5. What aspects of your results should you have planned out at the very beginning of an experiment?
...what form you are actually going to record your data in (what you're going to count and how it's going to be counted)
6. In arguments about the classification of a group of organisms...
a) What changes are allowed? Group assignment.
b) What changes are not allowed? Group name.
7. What, exactly, technically, is a gene?
...the trick here is "technically": a gene is a code for a protein.
8. Explain what a hydration shell is.
...a layer of water molecules surrounding dissolved particles.
9. What are two things about a hypothesis that make it appropriately scientific?
...it should be predictive and testable.
10. Briefly explain what happens in the process of Natural Selection.
...individuals best suited to conditions are most likely to survive and make offspring, so each generation will more and more reflect traits that suit the environment (until it changes)
11. Explain why it is really unscientific to say that results have proven a hypothesis.
...it implies that your hypothesis is the only possible explanation for your results.
12. Define the null hypothesis.
...results that do not support a hypothesis
13. In higher organisms, cells are organized into tissues which themselves are organized
into organs .
14. What unique condition happens in water at 4o Celsius?
...it is as dense as it can get under normal conditions.
15. Put these in order, largest to smallest: Class, Family, Genus, Kingdom, Order, Phylum, Species.
|
1. KINGDOM |
2. PHYLUM |
3. CLASS |
4. ORDER |
|
5. FAMILY |
6. GENUS |
7. SPECIES |
|
16. What feature would make a molecule polar? (Not necessarily bipolar!)
...it needs partial changes on some of its atoms.
17. How does a double-blind study work, exactly?
...neither patients receiving drugs nor doctors delivering them know what's a real treatment and what's a placebo.
18. "Translate" the following chemical formula: HCO3-.
...this is a -1 negative ion with one Hydrogen, one Carbon, and three Oxygens.
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 the names of four of the five Biological Kingdoms and those basic features which make organisms from that Kingdom clearly different from the other four.
|
Kingdom Name |
Trait(s) that make them clearly different from the other groups. |
|
MONERA |
Single-celled prokaryotes found in most environments. |
|
ARCHAEA |
Single-celled prokaryotes found in highly extreme environments |
|
PROTISTA |
Mostly single-celled eukaryotes (includes simple multicelled algae) |
|
FUNGI |
Multicelled consumers that absorb nutrients through outer surfaces |
| ANIMALIA | Multicelled consumers that absorb nutrients through inner surfaces. |
| PLANTAE | Multicelled photosynthesizers (producers) |
2. For the molecule diagram below, fill in the proper element symbol, either for Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, or Oxygen, on the lines between the bonds.
Can't really reproduce the figure here yet...match the bonds on each atom to HONC - 1 bond is Hydrogen, 2 is Oxygen, 3 is Nitrogen, 4 is Carbon. Double bonds do count as 2.
3. Give the official steps of the scientific method, with a brief connecting phrase that shows how each leads into the other.
Observations lead to explaining hypotheses, whose predictions can be tested by experiments, which should be run with controls and whose results should support conclusions related to the original hypothesis.
4. Briefly explain three different approaches used to determine relationships among organisms.
|
...there are more than three, including basic anatomy, embryo anatomy, chemical similarities, chemical sequences (DNA or proteins), behavior, ecological relationships, and others. |
|
|
|
|
5. For the various levels of interactions above the level of individual organisms, name and briefly define three.
|
POPULATIONS |
Groups of same species in an area |
|
COMMUNITIES |
Groups of living things in an area |
|
ECOSYSTEMS |
Living and non-living factors in an area |
| BIOSPHERE | Areas on the Earth with Life |
6. Describe the basic biological differences that separate male and female organisms of any type.
| MALE |
FEMALE |
|
Sex Cells: Sperm |
Egg Cells (Ova) |
|
Traits (3 pairs) Much smaller |
Much larger (holds yolk material) |
| Much larger number made |
Much smaller number made |
|
Able to get to egg cells |
Must be located by sperm |
7. Pick an element other than Hydrogen from the periodic table, and fill in the blanks.
The element _____________, symbol ______, is Atomic Number ______, with a most common
Atomic Weight (round-off number) of ______. An uncharged atom of this element would
typically have _______ protons, _______ neutrons, and _______ electrons.
8. For each type of reproduction, give the requested information.
|
ASEXUAL |
SEXUAL |
|
Definition:
|
Definition: |
|
Advantage over sexual:
|
Advantage over asexual: |
|
Disadvantage vs sexual:
|
Disadvantage vs asexual: |
BONUS QUESTIONS.
Answer as many as you are able. Wrong answers will not result in points being lost from the main exam.
What do most scientists do with information that is by nature qualitative?
Six Points.
What was wrong with blind studies? Six Points.
When scientists design computer simulations, how do they handle information that is very difficult to figure or about which we know very little? Six Points.
What aspect of sponges should put them in their own Kingdom? Six Points.
The basic chemistry of living things is built around Carbon. Why? Six Points.
Why are radicals so reactive? Six Points.
Why are ionic bonds not significant in biological chemistry? Six Points.
Why is there so much Nitrogen in the atmosphere? Six Points.
Why exactly does ice float? Six Points.