Chemistry of Life 1 - MT1 - Part 1 Flashcards
What are the 8 properties of life?
- Cellular organization
- Reproduction
- Metabolism
- Growth and development
- Homeostasis
- Heredity
- Response to stimuli
- Adaptation through evolution
When searching for extraterrestrial life through chemical signatures what do you look at?
The environment to see what key things that we need in order to survive
What wont last long in the environment?
O2 and N2
What needs to happen in regards to O2 and N2 in order for survival?
There must be ongoing release of them
What was Orson Welles apart of and what did he want to do?
- Broadcasting during the war –> “panic broadcast”
- wanted to make the sound like it was really happening
What happened during the panic broadcast?
People missed the beginning of the broadcast warning people that he was going to make realistic noises from the war and then when the people turned on the radio to listen to it they thought it was really happening
What does the panic broadcast demonstrate?
How people react to news
What does Stephan Hawking believe in?
Thinks aliens are alive
Copernican principle
States that humans are not privileged observers of the universe
All life on earth that we know of comes from where?
A single origin
What evidence do we have that all life on earth comes from a single origin?
The universality of the genetic code
Genetic code
Relationship between DNA/RNA and proteins
What 2 things are connected on earth?
- Chemistry
2. Life
What does life/chemistry have?
Electrons moving around
What do we need?
A chemical bases
What are 6 attributes of life?
- Living things grow and reproduce
- Selective barrier
- Transform matter and energy
- Living things produce large, complicated molecules
- Living things sense and respond to stimuli
- Living things evolve
What do barriers maintain?
An environment inside the organism/cell that is distinct in composition from the external environment
What are selective barriers?
Semi-permeable membranes that allow selected materials to flow through
What are selective barriers normally and why?
- normally they are gated channels
- because they have the ability to open and close
What kind of work do organisms use?
Free energy
What is free energy?
Energy that has the capacity to do work, that is, energy that can undertake any change in the world other than increase the random motions of particles (thermal energy)
What can some organisms withstand?
A steady state of metabolism but it is not reversible
How is energy transformed in a plant?
Though photosynthesis in the leafs
What do the molecules do in heat?
They bump into each other
What do the molecules do in work?
They move in the same direction
Disequilibrium
A loss or lack of equilibrium or stability
What is an example of sense and response to stimuli?
Venus fly trap
- has a specific number of hairs that need to be stimulated before it can close
What does reproduction lead to?
Variation
What does inherited variation lead to?
Evolution
