study guides

What are microbes?

Very small organisms generally too small to be seen within the naked eye

5 reasons to study microbiology

1) vital roles in earths ecosystem

2) microbes make product

3) microbes can be used to clean up the environment

4) microbes allow us to study biological processes

5) some microbes causes diseases

Describe how rates of death due to infectious disease differs between the world in general and low income countries. Explain why infectious diseases are responsible for a higher proportion of deaths in low income countries

Infectious disease death rates are higher in low income countries compared to the world in general because of several things an example is living conditions and diseases like Covid are twice as deadlier due to fragile health systems

Describe the current status of Covid 19 in the U.S and in Michigan

The current status of COVID 19 in the U.S and Michigan is still going on but it’s more preventable now with the vaccine just like any other virus

What are HAI’s? How much of a problem are HAI’s?

HAI’s also known as healthcare associated infections are infections that patients get while receiving treatment for medical or surgical conditions HAI’s are a big problem in the U.S 99,000 deaths a year are caused by HAI’s

Describe early interactions between people and microbes

Early interactions between people and microbes is colonization at birth. Where microbes from the mother rapidly colonize the newborns body surfaces

Did ancient people know that microbes existed? What did they think caused infectious diseases?

Ancient civilizations had kind of an understanding that diseases could be transmitted by things they couldn’t see

Who is credited with being the 1st person to view and describe microbes (the father of microbiology)

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Approximately when was the “golden age of microbiology”? List two famous microbiologists who lived during this time and describe the contributions of each to the field of microbiology?

The golden age of microbiology was around 1857-1914

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek developed a lens to see microbes and in 1675 viewed bacteria and protists

Louis Pasteur discovered fermentation

What is taxonomy? Explain the main way in which old classification systems differed from new and classifications

Taxonomy is the classification description identification and naming of living organisms. The main way in which old classification systems differ from modern classification systems is old classification systems grouped organisms by physical traits while modern systems classify them based on genetic and evolutionary relationships

What are prokaryotes? What are eukaryotes?

Prokaryotes do not have a nucleus and generally have a single circular chromosome

Eukaryotes do have a nucleus and have more than 1 chromosome

What new technology triggered a change in the classification of living things? Why did this change in classification occur?

New DNA technology triggered the change in classification because it allowed scientists to study genes and see how living things are related not just how they look

List the 3 domains into which all living things are classified. Which domains contain prokaryotes organisms? Which contains eukaryotic organisms?

1) bacteria = prokaryotic

2) archaea= prokaryotic

3) eukarya= eukaryotic

Why aren’t viruses and prions included in these classification systems?

They are acellular non living infectious agents, not organisms

Explain the parts of an organisms scientific name and the proper ways to write or type them

The parts of an organisms name is the genus ( the first part is capitalized) epithet or species ( the 2nd part is lower case

What does the term pathogenic mean?

Pathogenic means a microorganism is capable of causing diseases

What type of microscope is needed to view bacteria? What type of microscope is needed to view viruses?

a compound microscope = bacteria

Electron microscope = viruses

Are bacteria good or bad? Be able to give reasons for each

Bacteria are both good and bad an example of good bacteria is decomposition its acta as natures recycling agent. An example of bad bacteria is spoiled food which can cause sickness or can even be deadly

Describe the common shapes of bacterial cells

Coccus= circle shaped

Bacillus= rod shaped

Spirillum= ramen shaped

Explain why viruses and prions are not considered living things

They are acellular

List describe and be able to use steps of the scientific method. What characteristic must a hypothesis have in order to be considered scientific

Explain how the term theory means something very different in science than an everyday life

The scientific theory is different than the word theory we use in daily language because the scientific laws are more condice than a scientific theory

CH 2

describe the refraction of light. Explain why light and refraction are important in the field of microbiology

Refraction of light occurs when light changes directions when entering a new medium due to it having different properties light is important in microbiology because it helps us visualize microorganisms

Describe each of the following with regard to microscopy:magnification resolution, contrast

Magnification is the ability of a lens to enlarge the image of an object

Resolution is the ability to tell that two points or objects are separate

Contrast is visible differences between parts of specimen

Describe the contributions of various historical figures to the development and use of the microscope

Galileo galilei used a compound microscope at least two lenses in a series to view insect parts

Robert Hooke viewed cork through the microscope to view cells

What are light microscopes? What are simple microscopes? What are compound microscopes?

Light microscopes uses light plus glass lenses to make tiny things look bigger

Simple microscopes have one lens

Compound microscope has two or more lenses

Explain how to calculate the total magnification of a compound microscope

10× × 40× = 400× total

Describe bright field and dark field microscopy what are the applications of each?

brightfield microscopy produces a dark image on a bright background

Dark field microscopy produces a bright object on a dark background

Explain how an oil immersion lens is used and how this improves resolution

Oil immersion is used with a compound light microscope to see very small details at high magnification (usually 100× objective). And this improves resolution by air and glass have large differences between their refractive indices

what are electron microscopes? What are they used for?

Electron microscopes are microscopes that use a beam of electrons instead of light to see extremely small objects at very high magnification.

They are used for viewing ultrasmall structures like viruses, cell organelles, and detailed cell surfaces, mainly in research and medical labs.