Objectives for Test #1, BIO105 Principles of Biology
Science as a way of knowing
Mark S. Wilson
After attending lecture, reviewing lecture notes and reading the text, you should be able to:
- Outline the scientific method.
- Distinguish between inductive and deductive reasoning
- Distinguish between science as a way of knowing and other systems of knowledge, and identify key characteristics of science as a way of knowing.
- Define hypothesis and experiment
-Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the observations/experiments in the textbook relating to giraffe neck length and fly wing-marking and wing-waving
- Describe and explain three unifying principles in biology: The Cell Theory; Adaptive
Evolution by Natural Selection; and the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology
- Describe the difference between taxonomy and phylogeny
-Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Linaeus's taxonomy, and the 5-kingdom scheme
- Describe how molecular sequence data is used for phylogenetic analysis, and the advantages that this approach has relative to morphology-based taxonomies
- Describe the key features of the three-domain phylogeny developed by Carl Woese using 16S ribosomal RNA sequence data
Chemical Evolution
After attending lecture, reviewing lecture notes and reading the text, you should be able to:
- state the approximate times when key events in earth's history are thought to have occurred; formation of the planet, period of chemical evolution, appearance of life, origin of eukaryotes
- describe the steps by which chemical evolution is hypothesized to have occurred
- describe the Miller experiment, the results, and the significance of those results.

- discuss possible sites where early steps of chemical evolution may have occurred, and potential energy sources
Chemistry
After attending lecture, reviewing lecture notes and reading the text, you should be able to: overall goal - understand the relationship between chemical structure and biological function
1. Biological function results from shape and chemical reactivity of a molecule
2. Shape and chemical reactivity result from atomic structures of constituent atoms
You are expected to understand basic atomic structure, and the role of electrons in bonding, including being able to define the following: atom, molecule, compound, element, chemical number, mass number, neutron, proton, electron, nucleus, electron orbital, energy levels, octet rule, valence electrons, electronegativity, mole, molarity
1s, 2s, 2p designations of orbitals
- State 4 elements essential to life that make up 96% of living matter
- describe the structure of an atom
- define and distinguish among atomic number, mass number, atomic weight and valence.
- Given the atomic number and mass number of an atom, determine the number of neutrons.
- Explain why radioisotopes are useful to biologists
- Explain how radioisotope dating, and particularly carbon-14 dating, works
- Explain how electron configuration influences the chemical behavior of an atom.
- Explain the octet rule and predict how many bonds an atom might form.
- Explain why the noble gases are so unreactive.
- Define electronegativity and explain how it influences the formation of chemical bonds.
- Distinguish among polar and nonpolar covalent bonds, and ionic bonds.
- Describe the formation of a hydrogen bond and explain how it differs covalent & ionic

Water
After attending lecture, reviewing lecture notes and reading the text, you should be able to:
- Describe the structure and geometry of a water molecule, and explain what properties emerge as a result of this structure.
- Describe the structure and geometry of an NH
3
molecule, and explain what properties emerge as a result of this structure.
- Explain the relationship between the polar nature of water and NH
3
and their ability to form hydrogen bonds.
- Define molarity.
- Write the equation for the dissociation of water, and explain what is actually transferred from one molecule to another.
- Explain the basis for the pH scale, and understand the meaning of pH terminology
- Explain how acids and bases directly or indirectly affect hydrogen ion concentration
Carbon and Organic Chemistry
After attending lecture, reviewing lecture notes and reading the text, you should be able to:
- explain how carbon's electron configuration determines the kinds and numbers of bonds carbon will form.
- Describe how carbon skeletons may vary, and explain how this variation contributes to the diversity and complexity of organic molecules.
- Distinguish among the three types of isomers: structural geometric and enantiomers.
- Recognize, name and draw the structures of the 7 major functional groups.
- Describe the chemical properties of each of the 7 major functional groups.
Macromolecules
After attending lecture, reviewing lecture notes and reading the text, you should be able to:
- list the four major classes of biomolecules

- describe how covalent linkages are formed and broken in organic polymers
- describe the monomers that make up proteins, carbohydrates and nucleic acids
- describe the chemical structure of an amino acid
- explain how amino acids can be grouped according to chemical and physical properties of the side chains
- explain what determines protein conformation and what is meant by the 4 levels of protein structure
- define denaturation and explain how proteins may be denatured
- recognize whether a nucleic acid contains ribose or deoxyribose as a sugar
- describe the structure of a nucleotide,
- explain the carbon numbering system on the sugar of a nucleotide, describe how nucleotides are joined together to make polymers and identify 5' and 3' ends of a nucleic acid strand
- describe the basic three-dimensional structure of DNA
- summarize the functions of nucleic acids
- recognize each of the four macromolecules -- ascribe a molecule to one of the groups
Energetics
After attending lecture, reviewing lecture notes and reading the text, you should be able to:
- Distinguish between exergonic and endergonic reactions
- understand the basis of oxidation-reduction reactions, and the terminology that relates to oxidation -reduction reactions
- Describe the energy profile of a chemical reaction, including activation energy, free energy change, and transition state
- Explain the relationships between free energy changes, stability, capacity to do work, spontaneity
- Describe the function of enzymes in biological systems, and explain the relationship between enzyme structure and enzyme specificity