Homeostasis and Experimentation Study Guide 1. Define Homeostasis as it relates to physiology. Homeostasis is the bodies ability to maintain balance in order to keep various things at the
appropriate levels. Ex: body temperature, blood pressure, glucose levels, hormone levels, etc.
2. What is a homeostatic loop? Be able to create one from give information. Homeostatic loops show the process and parts the body uses to maintain
homeostasis.
3. Compare the bodies ability to maintain homeostasis to how your house regulates the temperature inside. The thermostat monitors The temperature in your house. If the temples rather changes from what
is set it will either turn on the AC to bring the temperature down if it's too hot, or turn the heater on
if it's too cold and bring the temperature up. Your body has sensors that monitor it's temperature
and will either do things to increase its temperature up, or down depending on how it differs from
normal.
4. What are negative feedback loops? How do they relate to physiology? Negative feedback loops are homeostatic loops that involved a change that requires
something to be decreased in response to a change. Example, your body controls the amount
of water in your blood by causing you to lower the amount through the evacuation of urine.
Most feedback loops are negative feedback loops.
5. How does the vascularity of skin affect the control of body temperature? The more vascular the skin, the more blood vessels there are, which allows the skin to respond
to a temperature change quickly. Example, your face is very vascular and will be able to raise
or lower it's temperature faster then your biceps, which are less vascular.
6. Know how your body regulates body temp, glucose, and calcium. IE: the different homeostatic loops that occur. 7. What makes a hypothesis, testable question, different and important? They are something that can be tested. When conduction experiments you always
want to have a focus that is testable. They are can be phrased in "if______, then
______" statements.
8. How do you make an experiment more reliable? More data, less variables. Example: if you're going to test how exercise affects
body temperature all people being tested should have the same type of clothing
on, not some in sweatshirts & sweatpants and others in shirts & a tank top.
The less variables you have the better/more reliable your experiment will be.
9. What are dependent and independent variables? Be able to identify them from an experiment. An independent variable is the variable you control in an experiment in order to see
what happens to another. A dependent variable, is the variable that changes in response to the independent
variable. The is the one you're trying to measure and are interested in your
experiment.
10. How is the scientific method a process, and a train of thinking? The scientific method is not a series of steps you need to follow, but is simply
problem solving skills. Whenever you approach a problem you use. The scientific
method to solve it, as you make a hypothesis, test it, and revise & retest if needed.