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What are the eight characteristics possessed by living things?
Order, Reproduction, Inherited information base, Growth and development, Energy utilization/processing, Response to environment, Regulation/Homeostasis, Evolutionary adaptation.
What is the ultimate source of energy for most living things?
The sun.
How do photosynthesizing organisms capture energy?
By capturing the sun's energy and passing it on to other organisms in the form of food.
What is energy defined as?
The capacity to bring about movement against an opposing force or the capacity to do work.
What are the two forms of energy?
Potential energy (stored energy) and kinetic energy (energy in motion).
What is thermodynamics?
The study of energy.
What does the first law of thermodynamics state?
Energy is never created or destroyed but is only transformed.
What does the second law of thermodynamics state?
Energy transfer will always result in a greater amount of disorder in the universe.
What is entropy?
A measure of the amount of disorder in a system; the greater the entropy, the greater the disorder.
What happens to some energy during energy transformation?
Some energy will be lost as heat, the most disordered form of energy.
How do living things utilize energy?
To create order, reproduce, grow and develop, respond to the environment, and maintain homeostasis.
What are endergonic reactions?
Reactions in which the products contain more energy than the reactants.
What are exergonic reactions?
Reactions in which the reactants contain more energy than the products.
What is ATP?
Adenosine triphosphate, the most important energy transfer molecule in living things.
How is energy extracted from food transferred in animals?
It is transferred to ATP and used to drive metabolic processes.
Why does ATP contain a high energy potential?
It contains three negatively charged phosphate groups that repel each other.
How does ATP drive chemical reactions?
By donating its third phosphate group to reactions.
What role do enzymes play in chemical reactions?
They act as catalysts by lowering the activation energy required to initiate the reactions.
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