SC 135 - First Exam 1999

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. What produces a polar molecule?

                    a. Magnetic fields                                       b. Unshared protons 
                    c. Unequally-shared electrons                     d. Unstable neutrons
                                e. It’s when the molecule stops taking its medication

2. What is the best reason that scientific evidence for a hypothesis should never be considered proof?

                    a. There’s not enough evidence accumulated 
                    b. Other hypotheses might explain the same results
                    c. Controls have not been run
                    d. Only theories can be proven
                    e. Because it’s in the Secret Rulebook

3. All of the chemical reactions in an organism or system:

                     a. Metabolism                 b. Organics                 c. Molecules 
                    d. Respiration                                 e. The icky stuff

4. The ability to reconstruct a dinosaur’s life-style from its fossil remains depends upon which characteristic of living things?

                    a. Evolution                     b. Cells                     c. Petrification
                        d. Form & Function relationship             e. Their diaries

5. Which is an allowable species name under the binomial nomenclature rules?

                    a. Gorilla Smithsoniius             b. Rattus rattus             c. smurfis ceruliis
                       d. felis Africanis                                     e. Rules? I hate rules!

6. During a reaction, Al⁺³ is changed to Al⁺². What sort of reaction is this?

                        a. Radioactive                     b. Ionic                     c. Reduction
                    d. Oxidation                                     e. Who’s Al?

7. In an experiment, an artifact is a

                    a. Reliable result                                     b. Lab apparatus set-up
                   c. Type of conclusion                             d. Product of the methods used
                                e. Something you learn about Vincent Van Gogh

8. As materials and energy move from beginning to end of a food chain, eventually 

                     a. Both are lost                         b. Energy is recycled and materials are lost
                    c. Both are recycled                 d. Materials are recycled and energy is lost
                        e. Things happen along the way that no one wants to know about

9. Hypotheses that aren’t easily tested under controlled lab conditions can be tested through

                    a. Convincing everyone that you are right
                    b. A controlled pattern of real-world observations
                    c. Elimination of all other possibilities
                    d. Peer review
                    e. A series of horrendous classroom examinations

10. Which of these is the current best definition of different species?

                    a. Can’t breed together                      b. Won’t breed together in Nature
                   c. Physically distinctive                      d. Can’t breed & produce fertile offspring
                                            e. Never eat together in the cafeteria

11. Modern classification systems are organized according to

                    a. Chemical similarities                     b. Physical similarities
                        c. Evolutionary connections             d. Ecological relationships
                        e. Political party affiliation

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. What two approaches are often used to lower the impact of pure chance on the outcome of an experiment?

2. The vast majority of fossilized organisms had what happen to them just after they died, that didn’t happen to the non-fossilized organisms.

3. Two different isotopes of the same element have different numbers of __________________.

4. Put them in order, SMALLEST TO LARGEST: Class, Family, Genus, Kingdom, Order, Phylum, Species, Superclass.

5. There are two main aspects to an experiment’s reproducibility that separates the good ones from the poor ones. What are those two aspects?

6. How are an ion and a radical different, and which is which in relation to the difference?

7. Put in order these levels of interactions within individual organisms, small to large:  cells, organs, organ systems, tissues.

8. Why is it essential for biology to have a classification system?

9. What ability makes an organism a producer? Define so that it applies to all producers!

10. There are two very different types of scientific models used to test hypotheses. What are these two types?

11. What are two different ways that an observation can be made that aren’t just a direct experience of the observer’s senses?

12. What is spontaneous generation? Define, don’t give an example.

13. Define.

14. Name and briefly define two different types of bonds that can hold molecules together.

15. Classically, how is a control test set up?

16. Briefly explain why Evolution by Natural Selection depends upon variety in a population.

17. What factor is being controlled for specifically in a double-blind test that wasn’t controlled in a single-blind test?

LONG ANSWER. 

Answer any four of the following questions for 16 Points Each.
Note: if you answer more than four, only the first four will be corrected.

1. Define three of the four terms given here:

2. Pick an element from the Periodic Table (something on Row 2 or higher). 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 __________

3. For four of the textbook’s five Kingdoms of organisms, give:

4. Fill in for the two basic types of reproduction:

5.The atoms in this molecule are either Carbon(C), Hydrogen(H), Oxygen(O), or Nitrogen(N). Based upon the bonding information given, place the appropriate symbols in the circles.

This question does not set up easily on a web page, so can't be accurately given here.

O

6. Give three sets of differences between the sex cells of:

7. Fill in the table:

* - Common stable form might be as an atom, a type of ion, or bonded covalently.

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

Results in science are preferred in only one of the two main forms - for Four Points, which form, and for Six Points, why in that form rather than the other?

What sort of production forms the bottom of the food chain at deep, dark, ocean hydrothermal vents? Six Points.

What determines if evolution occurs slowly or quickly? Six Points.

In which rare type of fossil is the whole original organism often preserved without mineralization? Five Points.

In which Kingdom is sexual reproduction without males and females fairly common? Five Points.

Sea snakes are determined to be closely-related to cobras based upon what feature? Four Points.

There are three types of radioactivity radiation - alpha, beta, and gamma. They are not equally dangerous. What about the radiations themselves determines how much penetration power they have?  Eight Points.

The "free radicals" talked about by the health-food & vitamin industry are mostly which element?  Six Points.