Ch 2 Quiz

Question 1

Name the 4 main types of Biomolecules

Answer 1

Carbohydrates, Fats, Proteins, Nucleic Acids

Question 2

Name 4 of the five most common molecules (these are small molecules, not biomolecules) on prebiotic earth, the raw materials for the primordial soup (the starting solution of the Miller-Urey experiments).

Answer 2

Hydrogen Gas, Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Water, Ammonia

Question 3

Name the kind of molecules that were predicted by Oparin to form in the high-energy reducing atmosphere of pre-biotic earth.

Answer 3

Simple organic molecules

ex: lipids, sugars

Question 4

Describe the important characteristics of the Miller-Urey experiment regarding pre-biotic earth. Be able to explain how the addition of an oxygenated environment would change the outcome of the experiment.

Answer 4

Important Characteristics: LACK OF OXYGEN, high heat and electrical energy

An oxygenated environment would have quickly broken down the polymer into a much smaller form (decreased polymerization)

Question 5

Polymerization (dehydration condensation) and depolymerization (hydrolysis) of all four biomolecules occurred chaotically in the primordial soup. Name the process that allows a chemical form can persist in this chaos.

Answer 5

The process that allows a chemical to persist in these conditions is replication

Question 6

Name (one-letter abbreviation) the four “charged” nucleosides that were the building blocks of the first RNA molecules.

Answer 6

AUGC: adenine, uracil, guanine, cytosine are the “building blocks” to RNA