BIOL 150

Question 1

What is a compound?

Answer 1

A substance consisting of two or more different elements combined in a fixed ratio

Question 2

What four natural elements make up 96% of living matter?

Answer 2

oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen (highest to lowest)

Question 3

What elements account for remaining 4% of an organism’s weight?

Answer 3

calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, magnesium (highest to lowest)

Question 4

What is a trace element?

Answer 4

An element indispensable for life but required in extremely minute amounts. They make up less than 0.01% of human body weight.

Question 5

List some elements that are trace elements.

Answer 5

Boron, chromium, cobalt, copper, fluorine, iodine, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, silicon, tin, vanadium, zinc

Question 6

What is the atomic mass?

Answer 6

The total mass of an atom, numerically equivalent to the mass in grams of 1 mole of the atom. (For an element with more than one isotope, the atomic mass is the average mass of the naturally occurring isotopes, weighted by their abundance.)