SC 135 - First Exam 1998 - Nights

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:

2. In an experiment, what is an artifact?

3. Just about all of the energy used by living things can be traced back to what ultimate source?

4. What are two relationship types found between species that can lead to changes in form?

5. What aspects of your results should you have planned out at the very beginning of an experiment?

6. In arguments about the classification of a group of organisms...

a) What changes are allowed?

b) What changes are not allowed?

7. What, exactly, technically, is a gene?

8. Explain what a hydration shell is.

9. What are two things about a hypothesis that make it appropriately scientific?

10. Briefly explain what happens in the process of Natural Selection.

11. Explain why it is really unscientific to say that results have proven a hypothesis.

12. Define the null hypothesis.

13. In higher organisms, cells are organized into ___________ which themselves are organized

into ____________.

14. What unique condition happens in water at 4^o Celsius?

15. Put these in order, largest to smallest: Class, Family, Genus, Kingdom, Order, Phylum, Species.

16. What feature would make a molecule polar? (Not necessarily bipolar!)

17. How does a double-blind study work, exactly?

18. "Translate" the following chemical formula: HCO₃^-.

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.

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.

3. Give the official steps of the scientific method, with a brief connecting phrase that shows how each leads into the other.

4. Briefly explain three different approaches used to determine relationships among organisms.

5. For the various levels of interactions above the level of individual organisms, name and briefly define three.

6. Describe the basic biological differences that separate male and female organisms of any type.

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.

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.