Exam 1 Study Guide

Question 1

Cells. What is the significant of the cell in Biology? What is/are the major differences between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells?

Question 2

What are the different levels of biological organization, from the smallest to the greatest? What is the relationship between an organism, a population, and a community?

Question 3

What are the steps in scientific inquiry?

Question 4

What is evolution and what were the observations and inferences of Charles Darwin?

Question 5

Know the central dogma of Biology: DNA makes RNA makes Protein

Question 6

What are the general things about DNA, RNA, proteins, chromosomes, and genomes?

Question 7

What is the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning? Look over the examples for each from the textbook as you may be asked to define one based on a hypothetical scenario!

Question 8

What elements make up living things? What are the most abundant and what are those essential elements that make up about 4% of the elements of biological life?

Question 9

What are protons, neutrons, and electrons? What how do the numbers of protons and neutrons relate? How do the numbers of protons and electrons relate?

Question 10

What is mass number, atomic number, and atomic mass?

Question 11

What are isotopes? What is the difference between Carbon-14 and Carbon-12 in terms of number of protons, neutrons, and electrons?

Question 12

What are the different chemical bonds? What is the difference between a polar and nonpolar covalent bond? What are hydrogen bonds?

Question 13

What is the difference between a cation and an anion? If a cation has a charge of +2, then what is the relationship of protons to electrons?

Question 14

What bond is formed between hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom in water?

Question 15

How are hydrogen bonds formed between water molecules?

Question 16

What is the formula for pH? What are acids and bases? What is the difference between a solution with a pH of 4 and a solution with a pH of 5? Remember, it is a base 10 increase or decrease in H+ ions.

Question 17

What are the properties of water?

Question 18

What is specific heat of water?

Question 19

What are calories? Kilocalories?

Question 20

What is evaporative cooling and why is it important in Biology?

Question 21

Why is carbon the core element of life? What is carbon’s valence and how many, and what kinds of bonds are formed by carbon?

Question 22

How many electrons must carbon share to fill its valence shell?

Question 23

What was the Stanley Miller experiment, and what did it show?

Question 24

What are isomers? What are enantiomers?

Question 25

What are the side groups amine and carboxyl? What is their significance in protein synthesis?

Question 26

What are the biological macromolecules and their subunits?

Question 27

What is dehydration and hydrolysis?

Question 28

What are monomers and polymers?

Question 29

How many water molecules would be needed for dehydration to polymerize a 10 monomer-long polysaccharide?

Question 30

What is glycogen? What sort of specific bond is formed between glucose monomers in glycogen?

Question 31

What is starch? Cellulose? Why can’t humans digest cellulose?

Question 32

What are saturated and unsaturated fats?

Question 33

What type of bond forms between amino acids on a growing polypeptide chain?

Question 34

What type of bond forms between nucleotides and how is phosphate used in this?

Question 35

What are phospholipids and their chemical properties, i.e., what is different about the glycerol/choline heads and the fatty acid tails?

Question 36

There are 20 different amino acids. What makes each of them unique?

Question 37

Which type of microscope is used for viewing cellular products like proteins?

Question 38

What are the general functions of the organelles of a cell?

Question 39

What are the different protein filaments of the cytoskeleton?

Question 40

How are motor proteins like myosin and dynein used to move vesicles, organelles, etc.?

Question 41

Which cytoskeletal filament is involved with movement of cilia and flagella?

Question 42

How is dynein used to move flagella?

Question 43

What is the role of nuclear lamina?

Question 44

What are the roles of lysosomes?

Question 45

What are ribosomes, their functions, and where are they found?