Name:____________________________________Aim#:_____________________Date:__________________________
Study Guide: Test #1- Life (characteristics and activities) and scientific method)
A. LIFE
 Life cannot be defined. It can only be described by the characteristics of living things and their
life activities.
Characteristics of Living things:
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


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Composed of cells
Reproduce offspring
Made up of genetic material called DNA
Grow, develop and eventually die
Use food as an energy source for their activities
Maintain a stable internal environment (homeostasis)
Change over time (evolution because of adaptations)
Life Activities (metabolic processes): (MR. STRANGER)
 Metabolism- the sum total of all life activities. Only living things have metabolism!
o Homeostasis- trying to achieve stable, internal environment
 Examples: constant body temperature (98.6oC, 36.5oF)
 Relative constant blood sugar levels
 Regulation- a well-coordinated response to a change in the external environment
o Example:
You hear the fire alarm, you get up and leave the building
A bird sees a worm and swoops down to get it
 Synthesis- build large molecules by combining small molecules
o Example: producing insulin, breast milk, hormones
 Transport- absorption and circulation of materials within a cell or an organism
o Example: blood often helps large animals absorb and distribute materials
 Respiration- extracting the energy of food so that the cell can use that energy to carry on the life
activities. (Energy molecule that the cell will generate from food is called ATP)
o Aerobic: organisms that use oxygen to extract energy from food (aerobes)
o Anaerobic: organisms that do not use oxygen to extract some energy out of food
 Assimilation- absorption and incorporation of nutrients into self
o Example: vitamins and minerals
 Nutrition- the intake of food (ingestion), the breakdown of food (digestion) and the elimination
of unused food (egestion)
o Autotroph- make own food (Plants and algae-photosynthesis)
o Heterotroph- can’t make own food so must consume food (animals, fungi, bacteria)
 Growth- Increase in size of an individual or cell
 Example: Growing 3 inches
o Development: increase in abilities or skills
 Example: Children beginning to walk
 Excretion- getting rid of metabolic wastes
o Example: water, sweat, urea (the main component of urine), salt, CO2
 Reproduction- produce fertile offspring
o NOT essential to an individual, but necessary to the species
o Example: a cat producing kittens (Sexual Reproduction- 2 parents)
o Example: an ameba splitting in half (Asexual Reproduction-1 parent)
Name:____________________________________Aim#:_____________________Date:__________________________
Study Guide: Test #1- Life (characteristics and activities) and scientific method)
 Locomotion (animals only)- self initiated movement
 Enables animals to find food, find mates, seek shelter, escape from enemies
B. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD (an organized way of solving a problem/question)
a) Problem/Question
Example: Which colored light (red, blue, green) will make plants grow the tallest?
b) Hypothesis: educated guess; “If…then…” Always a statement, never a question!
Example: If we use red light, then plants will grow the tallest.
c) Controlled Experiment:
a. Control Group: Standard for comparison/part you are NOT changing
(example: Natural light)
b. Experimental Group: Group that changes
(example: Red, Blue, and Green lights)
Independent (Manipulated) Variable: part YOU change (example: Colored lights)
Dependent (Responding) Variable: part you MEASURE (example: Plant height)
Constants (controlled variables): parts that COULD affect your experiment that need
to be controlled (example: amount of water,
amount of soil, type of plant, etc.)
d) Record and Analyze Data (evidence, results):
a. Data tables and Graphs
b. Qualitative data or observations (descriptive): The plant grew tall.
c. Quantitative data or observations (measurements): The plant grew 15 cm
Which type of data do scientists prefer?
________________________________________
Graphs:
1. Bar graph- compares groups of data
Example: the average grades of the boys and girls in this class on the first 3 tests
of the year
2. Line Graph- Relationship between two variables
Independent variable (X-AXIS) vs. Dependent variable (Y-AXIS)
3. Circle Graph (Pie Graph)- parts of a whole (percentages)
Example: the percentage of college graduates from the class of 2012 that have
full-time jobs
e) Conclusion:
a. Based on data
b. Does data support or refute hypothesis?
* How is an experiment proven valid/reliable?
Peer Review and it must be repeated many times with the same results!
- More test subjects, More trials = More valid/reliable results!
Theory- well-tested explanation that unites a broad range of observations; In science a theory is much
more than a hunch or a guess: it is well accepted by the community because it is supported by a
Name:____________________________________Aim#:_____________________Date:__________________________
Study Guide: Test #1- Life (characteristics and activities) and scientific method)
lot of evidence!
C. Labs
a. Safety Lab
i. Wear goggles to protect eyes when working with dangerous chemicals or heat
ii. Wear gloves if working with dangerous materials to avoid skin contact
iii. When heating a test tube, do not stopper it! Why?
________________________________
iv. Never point a heating test tube towards anyone
b. Pill Bugs
i. Crustaceans
ii. Great test subjects- easy to find, harmless to humans
iii. Rollers vs. Runners
iv. Breathe through gills
v. Small
vi. Measured in mm
c. Yellow Fever Reading
i. Soldiers contracted yellow fever through mosquitos
ii. Ethical question: should humans be used in scientific experiments?
d. Graphing Lab
i. Independent Variable = X-Axis
ii. Dependent Variable = Y-Axis
iii. Only connect dots for data that you have. Do not go to zero, unless it is a point in your
data!!
iv. Make sure all intervals are of the same value
e. Metric Systemi. Units:
1. Length- meter
2. Mass- gram
3. Volume- liter
Kilo
Hecto
Deka
(Kids
(Kids
Hate
Have
Doing
Dirty
*Base(m,g,l)
Biology
Mouths
deci
centi
milli……micro (10-6)
during class
movies)
drinking chocolate milk)
or
To convert to a smaller UNIT: move decimal point to the right, or multiply.
To convert to a larger UNIT: move decimal point to the left, or divide.
f. Tools- Be familiar with the various applications of the following lab equipment/tools:
Microscopes (compound light, stereoscopic dissecting, electron)
Microtome, Ultracentrifuge, Microdissection apparatus, Paper chromatography, Gel
electrophoresis, Cell culturing, Computers
Name:____________________________________Aim#:_____________________Date:__________________________
Study Guide: Test #1- Life (characteristics and activities) and scientific method)
*Practice:
1.
Read the problem statement below and complete the questions.
Sahara has a fish tank at home with 12 goldfish. She notices that the fish seem to eat more food when the lamp near
the tank is turned on. Because she wants her fish to be healthy she decides to perform an experiment entitled: “How does
light affect the amount of food a goldfish will eat?”
Hypothesis: ____________________________________________________________________
Independent Variable: ____________________________________________________________
Dependent Variable: _____________________________________________________________
2.
If performing an experiment to determine the number of flowers that will grow in green light, how many flowers
should we use? Why?
3.
What is a variable?
4.
Why must an experiment only have ONE variable?
5.
How do the control and experimental groups compare?
6.
Determine the independent, dependent variables, and three constants in the experiment below.
A scientist is studying the effect of carbon dioxide levels on the growth rate of Elodea (an
underwater plant). The scientist decides to divide a sample of 100 Elodea into two groups. Both sets of 50 plants will be
placed in a 30 gallon fish tank filled with 25 gallons of distilled water. Each tank will have a water filter and water pump
through which 25 ml of liquid plant food can be administered every 6 hours. both groups will be placed in a well lit room for
18 hours a day, however, one group will have an additional tube through which carbon dioxide gas will be bubbled through.
Independent Variable: _________________ Dependent Variable: _________________
Constants: _____________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
7.
Why is writing a detailed procedure important?
8.
Determine the metabolic activities in the pictures below and describe them.