bio practice tests 1-4

1.1-1.3 2.1-2.14 3.1-3.15 4.1-4.12

Which of the following is NOT a property of living things?

tremendous variation in size

A small group of 25 predatory birds populates an island. Three members of the population have superior sight, which gives these birds a significant advantage in capturing prey. After many generations, the population on the island has risen to 1,500 and almost all of the birds have superior sight compared to the same species on other islands. This is an example of __________.

evolutionary adaptation

Which of the following is an INCORRECT pairing of a kingdom of an organism and the nutrient source of that organism?

Plantae: decompose organic waste

Organism is to population as organ is to __________.

organ system

Consider a white blood cell. The next level of organization above it in the “Hierarchy of Life” is the __________, and the next level below it is the __________.

tissue; organelle

A single-celled eukaryotic organism that does not decompose or eat other organisms is most likely a member of __________.

protista

Which of the following choices includes elements that each contribute at least about 10% of the human body?

oxygen, carbon, hydrogen

Which of the following substances is a compound?

table salt (NaCl)

Which of the following statements is true regarding trace elements?

Excessive amounts of trace elements can damage the body.

A neutral atom differs from its ionized form in the number of __________. The isotopes of an element differ in their number of __________.

electrons; neutrons

Which of the following describes the use of a radioactive tracer to diagnose a disease?

injecting a tracer that binds to beta-amyloid plaques in the brain

The bond between the two hydrogen atoms in an H₂ molecule are __________. The bonds between two oxygen atoms in an O₂ molecule are __________.

nonpolar; nonpolar

Which of the following atoms can form the most covalent bonds with another atom? The number of electrons in each atom’s valence shell is provided.

C (4)

How are ionic bonds formed?

In ionic bonds, one atom gives up an electron to a more electronegative second atom.

Which of the following choices lists chemical bonds from strongest to weakest?

covalent, ionic, hydrogen

Which of the following statements about chemical reactions is NOT true?

In some chemical reactions, matter is created.

Why does sweating cool us?

Sweating allows the water molecules with the highest energy to leave the body first.

What is happening to the molecular bonds in water as the ice cubes in your soda melt?

As the ice melts, the hydrogen bonds between water molecules change so that the molecules are packed closer to each other.

How do bases act to reduce the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution?

by donating OH– ions or by accepting H+ ions

An isotope of carbon has 6 protons, 7 neutrons, and 6 electrons. Its atomic number is __________ and its mass number is __________.

6; 13

State the equation for photosynthesis in words.

Six molecules of carbon dioxide gas combine with six molecules of water to form one molecule of glucose and six molecules of oxygen gas.

Water striders (a type of insect) can move swiftly across a pond without breaking the water’s surface. This is due to their light weight and the water’s __________.

surface tension

Your Uncle Eddie likes to put a lot of sugar in his coffee. When he does so, he is making a __________ in which the coffee is the __________ and the sugar is the __________.

solution; solvent; solute

Human urine has a pH of about 6. Milk of magnesia has a pH of about 10. Household bleach has a pH of about 12. Arrange the three substances in descending order of basicity (most basic to least basic).

household bleach, milk of magnesia, human urine

Which of the following statements about carbon skeletons is true?

Carbon skeletons may take the shape of a ring.

Which component of an amino acid provides its acidic properties?

its carboxyl group

The __________ reaction that occurs when two monomers combine to form a polymer releases molecules of __________.

dehydration; water

Which of the following functional groups of organic molecules consists only of a carbon atom double-bonded to an oxygen atom?

carbonyl

Glucose and fructose are isomers. What does this tell you about the two molecules?

they have the same molecular formula

What is the shape of a 6-carbon sugar molecule dissolved in an aqueous solution?

ring

Why can’t humans digest cellulose?

it contains hydrogen bonds

Saturated fats are semi-solid at room temperature, whereas unsaturated fats are usually liquid. Why?

single C-C bonds allow the molecules to “pack together”

The oil and vinegar in your salad dressing remain separate from one another due to the __________ properties of the oil.

hydrophobic

What do phospholipids and cholesterol have in common?

both are important components of cell membranes

Anabolic steroids are synthetic versions of the hormone __________. To which of the following persons can they be appropriately prescribed?

testosterone: people who suffer from muscle-destroying diseases

You wonder whether exercise affects weight in young men. Which of the following scenarios describes a controlled prospective experimental study to test your hypothesis?

groups of men aged 18-25 are assigned to run 1 mile every day or to remain sedentary, and weighed at regular intervals for 6 months.

In a study of factors that might contribute to heart disease, a relative risk of 1.75 for factor X indicates which of the following?

factor X is strongly associated with heart disease

Which component of a protein is primarily responsible for its shape?

the R groups in the chain

A nucleotide consists of which of the following?

a 5-carbon sugar, a phosphate group, and a base containing nitrogen

The “backbone” of the RNA molecule consists of __________.

5-carbon sugars plus phosphate groups

What, if any, is the difference between a carbohydrate and a hydrocarbon?

carbohydrate molecules contain carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen

Proteins are made of sequences of __________ amino acids. DNA consists of sequences of __________ nucleotides.

20: 4

A peptide bond forms when the carboxyl group of one amino acid joins with the __________ group of another amino acid in a __________ reaction.

amino: dehydration

Quaternary structure can be observed in proteins that have which of the following characteristics?

composed of more than one polypeptide chain

Which of the following best describes the structure of DNA?

two polynucleotide chains twisted into a double helix.

In the DNA molecule, thymine always bonds with __________, while cytosine always bonds with __________.

adenine: guanine

Which of the following occurs when a gene is transcribed?

complementary base sequences are copied onto RNA

Consider the shape of proteins. Enzymes are usually __________, while structural proteins are usually __________.

globular: fibrous

One meter consists of _____ millimeters and _____centimeters. How many millimeters are in one centimeter?

1,000: 100: 10

A white blood cell is 12–15 µm (microns) in diameter. If you wished to count the white blood cells in a blood sample, which type of microscope would you choose?

light microscope

Imagine that you fill a basketball with as many ping pong balls as possible. The volume of the basketball is __________ the total volumes of all the ping pong balls. The surface area of the basketball is __________ than the total surface areas of all the ping pong balls.

approximately equal to; less than

Which of the following is characteristic of prokaryotic cells but NOT eukaryotic cells?

nucleoid

Which of the following organelles is found only in animal cells and NOT in most plant cells?

lysosome

You have identified a new organism. It has ribosomes, chromosomes, a cell wall, and plasmodesmata. This new organism is most likely a(n) __________.

plant

Pancreatic cells produce large amounts of enzymes for export into the digestive system. By contrast, muscle cells do NOT export digestive enzymes. How do you think that the number of ribosomes compares in the two cell types?

The pancreatic cell has many more ribosomes than the muscle cell.

What do the rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, vacuoles, and lysosomes have in common?

They are constructed of a similar type of membrane.

What changes would you expect to see in the liver cells of someone suffering from chronic alcoholism?

large amounts of endoplasmic reticulum; elevated levels of detoxifying enzymes

After their synthesis, proteins are modified and sorted by __________ located in the cell’s __________. An example of such a modification is __________.

the Golgi apparatus; cytoplasm; adding a phosphate group

In which of the following ways do lysosomes workwithin animal cells?

Lysosomes fuse with food vacuoles, digest food, and release nutrients into the cytosol.

Lysosomal storage diseases are rare in the general population. Why?

Such diseases are usually fatal in early childhood.

When you hear the terms contractile, digestive, storage, pigment and poisonous, which of the following organelles comes to mind?

vacuole

A transport vesicle within a cell can contain which of the following?

a newly made glycoprotein, as well as the glycoprotein with its attached phosphate groups

Which of the following is the correct pairing of a microscopic structure and its approximate size?

mitochondrion: 1 µm