BLOCK 1 BIO1 Flashcards
Why is water important for life?
What properties make it so special?
Why:
-Hydrogen Bonding:
-Universal Solvent
-Transparency(Fuild Enivorment
What Properites:
-High Heat Capacity
-Density Anomalies
-Cohesion and Adhesion
-Solvent for Polar molecuels
Why is our atmosphere important to life on earth?
-Oxygen Supply
-Carbon Dioxide Regulation
-Temperature Regulation
-Protection from Solar Radiation
-Weather Patterns
-Water Cycle
What are requirements for life as we know it?
-Liquid Water
-Energy Source
-Temperature for stability of biological molecules and biochemical reactions
-Genetic Material
What are the basic characteristics of living systems?
-Cellular Organization
-Living system are Open system (Constant Flux of matter and energy)
-Complexity from simple (Evolution)
Why are viruses often not considered alive?
-Aceullear = Lack of Cellular Structure(DNA or RNA)
-Dependency on Host Cells, inability to Replicate Independently
What features of our solar system/planet are particularly favourable for life?
-Presence of Liquid Water
-Stable and Moderate Climate
-Abundance of Chemical Elements
-Protective Atmosphere
-Magnetosphere
What are examples of how living organisms can generate large scale geological
structures?
-Coral Reefs
-Stromatolites
-Mangrove Forests
What is osmosis?
How to calculate osmotic pressure
- Spontaneous net movement or diffusion of solvent molecules through a selectively-permeable membrane from a region of high water potential (region of lower solute concentration) to a region of low water potential (region of higher solute concentration)
Π = c R T(for ideal solution)
c is the molar concentration of solute, R is the ideal gas constant, and T is the absolute temperature (usually in kelvins)
What is the role of ATP?
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is often referred to as the “energy currency” of the cell due to its central role in energy metabolism and cellular processes.
-Energy Transfer
-Chemical Work
-Mechanical Work
What forms of energy does life use and how is energy stored in live cell?
Life uses
-Light, energy rich inorganic, energy rich organic, chemosynthesis(chemcial compunds from enviorment ), chemotrophic.
Stored
-Ions Salt ions, protons
-Long lived energy (fat, strach)
- Short lived energy (ATP, NADH)
-
What is an argument for the RNA-world hypothesis of the origin of life?
RNA stores information and catalytic activity
Plays key role in all forms of life (mRNA,tRNA,ribsome and more)
Which basic properties of living systems are constrained by physical laws.
-Gravity,diffusion of heat, substance limtied avilable energy supply, fluid transport through capillarity pressure driven flow
Constrains on the body-size of animals, land and marine, height of tree, size of living cells
Why can marine animals grow larger than land animals?
-Buoyancy
-Supportive Medium
-Respiratory Efficiency
-Food Availability
Why are dissipative structures relevant for understanding life?
Dissipative structures are dynamic systems(open system) maintain their structure and organization far from thermodynamic equilibrium by dissipating energy and exchanging matter with their environment. Constant Flux.
How do diffusion and the diffusion coefficient scale with key properties of a
particle/molecular (size, temperature, viscosity)?
-Diffussion is a stastical process caused by random motion of molecules
-For large molecules the diffusion, concentration field is deterministic and follows Ficks Law
The difussion equation:
D= Kb T /(6 pi *Re *R)
R = Radius of Sphere
Re = Reynolds number
