unit 3

Question 1

vitalism

Answer 1

idea that all living things posses a vital life force, different from the physical or chemical elements of life;

Question 2

discovery of synthetic composition of urea

Answer 2

• fredrick wohler
• poked holes in vitalism theory
• processes in biotic organisms are governed by the same forces as abiotic matter

Question 3

urea composition process (synthetically)

Answer 3

cynic acid + ammonia ( O= C - H2N - NH2)

Question 4

spontaneous generation (abiotic genesis)

Answer 4

theory that biotic things emerge from non-living matter

Question 5

aristotle (300bc)

Answer 5

• earth, water, fire, air and “ether” (vital force)
• dew, mud, timber, animal excrement, fur, etc
  ALL could produce bugs

Question 6

Paracelsus (15th century)

Answer 6

small animals come from herbs and putrification

Question 7

van helmont (16th century)

Answer 7

dirty shirt (sweat produced vital force) + wheat = mice

Question 8

why did spontaneous generation persist for years?

Answer 8

technology, religious + cultural inertia, observation (not experiment), and conformity bias

Question 9

why do biologists universally accept that cells come from preexisting cells?

Answer 9

improvement of observation tools and a focus on controlled experiments.

Question 10

redi experiment

Answer 10

rotten meat in three jars- uncovered, corked, and gauze-covered
- open = maggots come from meat
- sealed = no maggots
- gauze = maggots on top
concluded that rotten meat attracted maggots, not produced.

Question 11

spallanzani experiement

Answer 11

flask with sterilized broth inside- covered v uncovered
- covered = no air to introduce microbes
- open = broth creates microbes
counterargument was that boiling the broth killed the viral force

Question 12

pateur’s experiments

Answer 12

• gooseneck flask -> showed air didn’t contain vital force
• boiled broth and let it sit uncovered in a gnf, stopping microbes from entering the broth

Question 13

formation of the earth

Answer 13

4.5 billion years ago

Question 14

chemical evidence of life

Answer 14

3.8 billion years ago

Question 15

oparin-haldane hypothesis

Answer 15

1920s- life arose gradually from inorganic molecules with “building blocks” forming first, then combining to create complex molecules

Question 16

4 steps needed for the spontaneous origin of cells

Answer 16

synthesis of organic molecules, polymerization, self-replication, packaging

Question 17

synthesis of molecules

Answer 17

synthesis of simple organic molecules to form inorganic compounds (amino acids, nitrogenous bases, simple sugar and fatty acids)

Question 18

organic molecules

Answer 18

both C and H, covalent bonding

Question 19

inorganic molecules

Answer 19

no C and H, ionic or covalent bonding

Question 20

polymerization

Answer 20

assembly of monomers to polymers

Question 21

monomer

Answer 21

one unit

Question 22

polymer

Answer 22

large molecule made of many monomers

Question 23

self-replication

Answer 23

enabling inheritence

Question 24

packaging

Answer 24

packing molecules into membranes with internal chemistry that differs from the chem. of the outside environment

Question 25

miller-urey experiment

Answer 25

tested synthesis of organic molecules. ran evaporated water through methane, ammonia, and h2 gases + electrode sparks. Condensed and was tested- substance showed formation of amino acids

Question 26

miller-urey conclusion

Answer 26

organic molecules can form from inorganic compounds and could have formed on prebiotic earth

Question 27

evidence that polymerization can occur

Answer 27

clays have been shown to contain monomers that were able to spontaneously polymerize on earth

Question 28

rna world hypothesis

Answer 28

proposed that rna was the first genetic material

Question 29

properties of rna that would allow it to be the first genetic material

Answer 29

• ability to self-replicate
• contains the genetic code for protein synthesis
• serves as a catalyst for polymerization

Question 30

evidence that rna may have been the first genetic material

Answer 30

single-stranded structure allows rna to fold + form, allowing it to take the shapes needed for certain proteins.
- acts like an enzyme, but can store genetic information

Question 31

fatty acids are much simpler than phospholipids and therefore

Answer 31

may have formed more readily in a prebiotic world

Question 32

fatty acids contain

Answer 32

hydrophobic tails and hydrophilic heads (automatically arranged into bubbles)

Question 33

fatty acids can form

Answer 33

micelles, which form into vesicles