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Biology midterm study guide
Chapter 1 – The study of life
1. Define the term: scientific theory
A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that is
acquired through the scientific method and repeatedly tested and
confirmed through observation andexperimentation
2. Define the term: Law
A scientific law is a statement based on repeated experimental observations that describes
some aspects of the universe. A scientific law always applies under the same conditions, and
implies that there is a causal relationship involving its elements.
3. What are some possible observations that could have led to the development of the cell theory?
Date
1665
Event
Cell first observed
Robert Hooke, an English scientist, discovered a honeycomb-like structure in a cork
slice using a primitive compound microscope. He only saw cell walls as this was
dead tissue. He coined the term "cell" for these individual compartments he saw.
1670
First living cells seen
Anton van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch biologist, looks at pond water with a microscope
he made lenses for.
1683
Miniature animals
Anton van Leeuwenhoek made several more discoveries on a microscopic level,
eventually publishing a letter to the Royal Society in which he included detailed
drawings of what he saw. Among these was the first protozoa and bacteria
discovered.
1833
The center of the cell seen
Robert Brown, an English botanist, discovered the nucleus in plant cells.
1838
Basic building blocks
Matthias Jakob Schleiden, a German botanist, proposes that all plant tissues are
composed of cells, and that cells are the basic building blocks of all plants. This
statement was the first generalized statement about cells.
1839
Cell theory
Theodor Schwann, a German botanist reached the conclusion that not only plants,
but animal tissue as well is composed of cells. This ended debates that plants and
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animals were fundamentally different in structure. He also pulled together and
organized previous statement on cells into one theory, which states: 1 - Cells are
organisms and all organisms consist of one or more cells 2 - The cell is the basic
unit of structure for all organisms
1840
Where does life come from
Albrecht von Roelliker discoveres that sperm and eggs are also cells.
1845
Basic unit of life
Carl Heinrich Braun reworks the cell theory, calling cells the basic unit of life.
1855
3rd part to the cell theory added
Rudolf Virchow, a German physiologist/physician/pathologist added the 3rd part to
the cell theory. The original is Greek, and states Omnis cellula e cellula. This
translates as all cells develop only from existing cells. Virchow was also the first to
propose that diseased cells come from healthy cells.
4. Define: dependent variable – A dependent variable is what you measure in the
experiment and what is affected during the experiment. The dependent
variable responds to the independent variable
5. Define: independent variable – An independent variable is the variable you have
control over, what you can choose and manipulate. It is usually what you think
will affect the dependent variable.
6. Define: Hypothesis – a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited
evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
7. Why must experiments always be conducted with a control group?
To have a baseline for comparison
Chapter 6 – chemistry in biology
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8. Draw a picture of how the activation energy of a chemical reaction is changed by the addition of
an enzyme catalyst.
9. What element is common to all organic macromolecules?
Carbon
10. How many covalent bonds can carbon make with other elements?
4
11. What is the function of an enzyme?
Speeds up reactions
12. Where do substrates bind to an enzyme?
Active site
13. Name the four macromolecules, for each write the building blocks, a function and an example.
a. Proteins – amino acids, enzymes, catalyze reactions
b.
Carbohydrates – sugar, energy storage, monosaccharides
c.
Nucleic acids – nucleotides, DNA, store genetic information
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d. Lipids – fats, fatty acids, long term energy storage.
14. What property of water allows it to maintain a high surface tension?
cohesion
15. What property of water allows it to be considered the universal solvent?
Polarity
16. Is water a polar or non-polar molecule?
polar
17. What property of water allows it to resist changing temperatures quickly?
Specific heat
18. Compare and contrast covalent and ionic bonds
Covalent- sharing
Ionic – transferred.
Chapter 7 – Cellular structure and function
19. List three differences between plant and animal cells
a. Large vacuole
b. Cell wall
c. Chloroplasts
20. Compare and contrast between Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes
Eukaryotes – larger, contain nucleus, many chromosomes, membrane bound organelles
Prokaryotes – small, no membrane bound organelles, one chromosome
21. Do prokaryotic cells contain a nucleus?
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no
22. Compare and contrast Light and electron microscopes.
Light – use light, look at living organisms, zoom 1000X
EM – only dead organisms, zoom 500000X, uses electrons
23. Which type of microscope would you use to view a living cell?
Light
24. What happens to a cell when it is placed in a hypertonic solution?
shrinks
25. What happens to a cell when it is placed in a hypotonic solution?
Swells
26. What happens to a cell when it is placed in an isotonic solution?
Nothing
27. List the three statements of the cell theory
a. All living things are made of cells
b. All cells come from other cells
c. The cell is the fundamental unit of life.
28. The cell membrane is made up of a bilayer of ____phospholipds ___.
29. What is the function of the cell membrane?
Boundary of the cell, controls what comes in and what goes out,
30. Define: passive transport – movement down a concentration gradient without using energy
31. Define: active transport – movement up a concentration gradient using energy.
32. Give three examples of passive transport
a. diffusion
b. Facilitated diffusion
c. osmosis
33. Give two examples of active transport
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a.
b.
ATP ase pumps
Endocytosis/ Exocytosis
34. What is the function of the nucleus?
Store genetic information
35. What is the function of the mitochondria?
Powerhouse of the cell/ makes atp
36. What is the function of the ribosomes?
Makes proteins
Chapter 8 – Cellular energy
37. What is the most important biological molecule that transfers energy in the cell?
ATP
38. Write the equation for photosynthesis.
6CO + 6H O ------> C H O + 6O
2
2
6
12
6
2
39. Write the equation for cellular respiration.
C6H12O6+6O2→6CO2+6H2O+energy
40. When photosynthesis converts light energy to chemical energy, it stores the chemical energy in
what molecule?
glucose
41. How does ATP release energy?
Breaks the phosphate bond between last phosphates
42. Describe how photosynthesis and cellular respiration are related.
The products of one are the reactants of the other
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43. Define: aerobic – requires oxygen
44. Define: anaerobic – no oxygen is present
45. Define: fermentation – Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids,
gases or alcohol. It occurs in yeast and bacteria, and also in oxygen-starved muscle cells, as
in the case oflactic acid fermentation
Chapter 9 – Cellular reproduction
46. If a cell with 46 chromosomes divides using mitosis, how many chromosomes will each of the
daughter cells have? 46
47. Name one genetic and one environmental factor that can cause uncontrolled cell growth or
cancer. Smoking tabacco, genetic mutations
48. Define: interphase –Interphase is the phase of the cell cycle in which a typical cell spends
most of its life. During this phase, the cell copies its DNA in preparation for mitosis.
49. Define: mitosis –Mitosis is a part of the cell cycle in which chromosomes in a cell nucleus are
separated into two identical sets of chromosomes, and each set ends up in its own nucleus.
50. Define: cytokinesis –Cytokinesis is the process during cell division in which the cytoplasm of
a single eukaryotic cell is divided to form two daughter cells.
51. What are the three phases of interphase? G1, S, G2
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52. Write each of the steps involved in mitosis in order in which they occur, and one event that
occurs during each step.
Prophase – nucleus disappears, chromosomes condense
Metaphase – chromosomes line up in the middle
Anaphase –chromatids separate
Telophase – nucleus reappears, chromosomes de condense.
53. What type of cells, somatic or sex cells, undergo mitosis?
somatic
54. What molecules are used at checkpoints to regulate the cell cycle?
cyclins
55. What would happen to a cell if it underwent mitosis without cytokinesis?
Multiple nuclei
Chapter 10 – sexual reproduction and genetics
56. Define: Diploid – organism contains paired chromosomes
57. Define: Haploid – organism only contains one set of chromosomes
58. What type of cells, somatic or sex cells, undergo meiosis?
sex
59. If a cell had 46 chromosomes when it undergoes meiosis it will be divided into ___4___
daughter cells with _____23____chromosomes each.
60. Write the steps of meiosis and one event that occurs during each step.
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Prophase I - is the longest phase of meiosis. During prophase I, DNA is exchanged between
homologous chromosomes in a process called homologous recombination. This often results
in chromosomal crossover
Metaphase I – homologous chromosomes line up along the center
Anaphase I – homologous chromosomes separate
Telophase I – nucleus reforms
Prophase II – nucleus disappears, chromosomes condense
Metaphase II – sister chromatids line up along the metaphase plate
Anaphase II – sister chromatids separate
Telophase II – nucleus reforms, chromosomes uncondense
61. List two ways sexual reproduction can increase genetic variation.
a. Crossing over
b. Independent assortment
62. When does crossing over occur in meiosis?
Prophase I
63. Define: crossing over – the exchange of genetic material between homologous
chromosomes that results in recombinant chromosomes during sexual reproduction.
64. Compare and contrast mitosis and meiosis. Mitosis conserves the number of chromosomes in
body cells, meiosis halfs the chromosomes in sex cells
Chapter 12 – molecular genetics
65. True or False. Animals that share the same genes will make the same proteins made in their
cells? TRUE
66. What type of macromolecules makes up DNA?
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Nucleic acids
67. List the three parts of a nucleotide
a. Phosphate
b. sugar
c. Nitrogenous base
68. Define: Codon – 3 bases in mRNA that code for an amino acid
69. Define: mutation – a change in DNA as a result of an error in DNA replication
70. Name three different types of mutations and give an example of each. Insertion, deletion,
substitution
71. Describe DNA replication. – semiconservative replication in which DNA is copied to make two
exact copies.