FAQs Flashcards

Question

How does the mass of each nucleon in a uranium-235 nucleus differ from the mass of each nucleon in its fragments?

Answer 1

During fission mass is converted to energy resulting in less mass per nucleon in the uranium fragments compared with the original uranium-235 nucleus.

Answer 2

Nuclear fission is the splitting of nuclei. Nuclear fission often produces highly radioactive particles and an example of fission is the atom bomb. Nuclear fusion is the combining of nuclei. An example of fusion occurs in stars, such as the Sun. In BOTH fission and fusion, MASS is converted to kinetic ENERGY.

Answer 3

Stars are composed of mostly Hydrogen (H), some Helium (He), and very small traces of heavier chemical elements.

Answer 4

A black hole is the remains of a giant star that underwent gravitational collapse to itself; this collapse results in mass so compressed that it causes an infinite space-time curvature, where light itself cannot even escape! Einstein's General Theory of Relativity provides a foundation for understanding black holes.

Answer 5

Massive stars must be more luminous in order to offset the gravitational force of contraction. To be more luminous they burn hydrogen fuel at a faster rate than small-mass stars resulting in shorter lives.

Answer 6

It is a diagram that plots the luminosity and surface temperature of stars. There are distinct regions on the diagram including main sequence, red giants, and white dwarfs.

Answer 7

It will become a Red Giant. Like all stars, our Sun follows a life cycle, and it is currently classified as a yellow dwarf star about 5 billion years old. Upon its death, it will be a cold, black dwarf.

Answer 8

The Sun is the center of our Solar (Sun) System, and also happens to be the closest stars the Earth. Objects in the Solar System are gravitationally bound to the Sun, therefore it is the Sun's gravity that organizes the shape of our Solar System, the elliptical orbits of the planets, and also influences the system's evolution. In fact, the Sun itself contains most of the mass of the Solar System.

Answer 9

Venus. It is a similar distance from the Sun and is close to the same size and density.

Answer 10

Thermonuclear fusion occurs in the core of the Sun and then is radiated outward towards the surface.

Answer 11

The Jovian planets are gaseous planets including Saturn, Uranus, Jupiter, and Neptune. The Jovian planets are found further out from the Sun, and are gaseous in nature. This is in contrast to the terrestrial planets which are found closer to the Sun (like Earth) and are rocky in nature, since they were formed from materials with very high melting points.

Answer 12

The universe began in a primordial explosion, known as the Big Bang, around 13.7 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since. Seem evidence for Big Bang includes the slowing of the galaxies as they recede/expand, and also the long wavelength radiation that permeates the universes.

Answer 13

A pulsar is a core of neutrons (neutron star) that remain after a supernova and emit rapidly varying sources of low-frequency radio waves.

Answer 14

Because several different types of electromagnetic radiation exist in the Universe, tools have been developed to detect these types of radiation. There are optical telescopes, infrared telescopes, gamma ray telescopes, radio telescopes, optical spectrographs, ect. Astronomers use different tools to study different aspects of the Universe.

Answer 15

Cosmic background radiation is faint microwave radiation detected it the Universe and is thought to be emitted as a result of the Universe cooling off following the Big Bang explosion.

Answer 16

Any material made up of 1 type of atom.

Answer 17

Covalent bonds occur when atoms share electrons. In a polar covalent bond the electrons are not shared equally. The oxygen atom in a water molecule has more electronegativity than the hydrogen atoms and therefore pulls the electrons towards it more strongly. Non-polar covalent bonds typically form between molecules of the same element (O2) where there is no difference in the electronegativity of the atoms.

Answer 18

Valence electrons are the electrons exposed to the environment and have the capacity to interact with other atoms by forming chemical bonds.

Answer 19

Carbon-12 and Carbon-14 both have the same number of protons and electrons because they are the same element. They differ in the number of neutrons found in the nucleus.

Answer 20

Think of elements, minerals, and rocks as building blocks to one another. Elements are atoms, the smallest unit of matter. Minerals are elements stacked together in a crystal structure, and rocks are composed of 1 or more minerals.

Answer 21

The Earth's crust is the thinnest and outermost layer; it consists of basaltic and granite rock. The mantle is the thickest of the layers. The Earth's core is the inner most layer, and is under the highest pressure and is the warmest of all the layers. The Earth's core produces Earth's magnetic field. Earth's inner core is solid and is composed of Iron and Nickel; the most dense of these metals settled to form the solid inner core, and less dense materials comprise the liquid outer core of the Earth's center. As the Earth rotates, the liquid portion of the (outer) core spins around the solid inner core of iron and nickel, helping to create Earth's magnetic field.

Answer 22

The Mohorovicic discontinuity refers to the boundary between the Earth's crust and mantle, making the lower limit of Earth's crust. It exists roughly (on average) 32 km beneath continental surfaces, and 8 km beneath ocean basins. It was discovered and described in 1909 by Andrija Mohorovicic.

Answer 23

Intrusive (plutonic) rocks cool slowly beneath the Earth's surface and are composed of large mineral crystals. Extrusive rocks cool quickly at the Earth's surface and are composed of small crystals.

Answer 24

The structural unit of silicate minerals is the tetrahedron. The silicate mineral structure can consist of a single tetrahedron or more complex arrangements such as single chains, double chains, sheets, and three-dimensional networks of tetrahedra.

Answer 25

There are three types of tectonic plate boundaries. They are: divergent, convergent, and transform-fault boundaries. Divergent means to move away from each other, and it is here that oceans grow wider. Convergent means to move towards each other, and this forms mountains and volcanoes. Finally, transform-fault refers to plates sliding past each other. More commonly these are just referred to as "faults"; an example of this boundary is the San Andreas fault - the North American plate is moving south and the Pacific plate is moving north, and San Andreas is the line in between the two plates!

Answer 26

Plate tectonics describes and explains this; and convection currents are a force that drives the plates.

Answer 27

Weathering refers to slow changes that breakdown, disintegrate, and decompose rock, including mechanical and chemical weathering. Erosion refers to what happens after weathering, when sediments are moved by the process of erosion. Agents of erosion include: water, gravity, wind, and glaciers.

Answer 28

The troposphere contains most of the atmosphere's mass and is where weather occurs. The stratosphere contains ozone molecules and absorbs the Sun's ultraviolet radiation.

Answer 29

Coriolis Effect is due to the Earth's rotation. Objects deflect to the right in the Northern Hemisphere, and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. This affects air movement. Coriolis Effect describes this as air moves from high to low pressure in the Northern Hemisphere, it is deflected to the right by the Coriolis Effect. Conversely as air moves from high to low pressure in the Southern Hemisphere it is deflected to the left. Finally, Coriolis Effect is greater at the poles (north and south) and next to zero at the equator.

Answer 30

The most abundant gases include Nitrogen and Oxygen.

Answer 31

A seismometer is typically a pen suspended over a piece of paper and detects the movement of the Earth. During an earthquake the paper shakes harder and the size of the wave drawn increases. Seismometer are used to determine the magnitude of an earthquake and are measured using the Richter Scale.

Answer 32

GPS can be used for detecting changes in the heights of mountains, the movement of tectonic plates, and for mapping the Earth's surface.

Answer 33

Doppler radar can be used for detecting changes in speed, determining the location and type of precipitation, measuring the intensity of storms, and detecting the motion of wind and rain drops.

Answer 34

Symbiosis describes when individuals of two species live in close association with one another. There are 3 main types of symbiotic relationships and they are: Parasitism - benefits one, harms the other Commensalism - benefits one, has no (neutral) effect on the other Mutualism - benefits both

Answer 35

A niche refers to the total set of abiotic and biotic resources a species uses in a given ecological community. Ex: a bald eagle's niche might include: water, fish, and a nest site.

Answer 36

An abiotic factor refers to non-living components in an environment. Examples of abiotic factors include: sunlight, rain, rocks, and temperature.

Answer 37

Photosynthesis literally means synthesizing the Sun's light energy into chemical energy used by the plant to sustain its life. Photosynthesis is extremely important as it forms the foundation for all food webs on Earth, and the Sun drives this important process. By capturing light energy from the Sun, and converting the energy to glucose, plants are able to feed themselves (plants are called "autotrophs" or "self-feeders" for this reason). In the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight are taken in and combine to yield glucose and oxygen; so plants take in light energy from the Sun, as well as carbon dioxide and water; and plants give off glucose (as energy to feed themselves) as well as oxygen which benefits humans and other organisms in the environment.

Answer 38

Biogeochemical cycles refer to cycles that involve both abiotic ( non-living) and biotic (living) components of an environment and describes substances that cycle between the living "bio" and the Earth "geo", specifically Earth's atmosphere, crust, and waters. Ex: water cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle.

Answer 39

Ecological succession is divided into two parts: primary and secondary. Primary succession begins on sites that lack living organisms, and these sites are also usually devoid even of soil. Secondary succession begins on sites that contain living organisms that have survived the most recent disturbance.

Answer 40

Since a trophic level refers to a position in a food chain/food web shared by organisms with similar feeding patterns, some examples of trophic levels in an ecological community and animals in each level include: producers (e.g. plants), primary consumers (e.g. grasshoppers), secondary consumers (e.g. field mouse), and finally tertiary consumers (e.g. a predator; rat snake, coyote, or a hawk).

Answer 41

A vestigial organ is one that has lost all or most of its original function. Ex: wings on flightless birds, hind leg bones in whales, human tailbone, and human appendix.

Answer 42

Fossils record, vertebrate embryo development commonalities, DNA and genes, homologous vertebrate limbs, Biogeography, Radiometric dating, and evolution we see in action today. Ex: bacteria that are adapting to and evolving resistance to antibiotic medicines.

Answer 43

In life science, fitness refers to the number of offspring and organism produces in its lifetime compared to other organisms in the population.

Answer 44

Natural selection is a force in evolution that refers to those organisms with heritable, advantageous traits survive, thrive, and reproduce in a given environment, causing the advantageous traits to become more common in populations over time.

Answer 45

The Linnaean system is older and is classification based in shared morphological characteristics if organisms; it uses binomial nomenclature (2 name-naming system, i.e. Homo sapiens - Human) to name species in Latin. Cladistics is a newer system of classification that focuses on evolutionary relationships to classify organisms; many advances in Cladistics have been due to advances in and analysis of species' DNA; Cladistics uses cladograms to represent relationships of organisms based on evolutionary history.

Answer 46

An organism classified as Domain Eukarya, Kingdom Fungi, must be eukaryote (have a true nucleus) and must also be a fungus. Ex: bread mold, yeast, mushrooms, and ringworm.

Answer 47

The three (3) Domains of Life are: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. Domain Archaea includes the oldest known organisms in Earth, and they are often found in some of the harshest environments on Earth. They are often called the "extremophiles" for this reason. Domain Bacteria include the prokaryotes - Cyanobacteria ("blue-green bacteria") and Eubacteria ("true bacteria") Domain Eukarya includes the four (4) Kingdoms of eukaryotes: Protists, Fungi, Plants, and Animals.

Answer 48

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.

Answer 49

A cladogram reflects and illustrates evolutionary relationships among organisms; it is a diagram depicting patterns of shared and derived characteristics of organisms - features that evolve for the first time and are passed on to all of the organisms' descendants.

Answer 50

A member of Kingdom Protista, must be a protist and must also be a eukaryote (have a true nucleus). Ex: slime molds, diatoms, algae (such as ocean plankton), seaweed, kelp, amoebas, paramecium, and euglenas.

Answer 51

Binomial nomenclature, or scientific naming of organisms is important in science, and specifically in identification and classification of organisms. For example if we used common nomes to describe organisms, it could cause confusion. So, if we used "mountain lion", "panther", "cougar" all to talk about one kind of feline carnivore, this would cause confusion. But if we refer to the scientific name of Felis Concolor (Latin for "cat of one color") we know exactly the animal we are referring to; this is important for scientists as they work collaboratively across languages and continents that scientific names are in Latin, and are used in place of common names for organisms. Scientific naming helps with clarity and accuracy when describing and classifying organisms.

Answer 52

To produce ATP energy, photosynthesis uses the sunlight/solar energy, whereas cellular respiration uses oxygen, to produce ATP energy; a byproduct of photosynthesis is oxygen, whereas a byproduct of cellular respiration is carbon dioxide.

Answer 53

A catalyst is a substance that increases (speeds up) the rate of a chemical reaction by lowering its activation energy. A catalyst also remains chemically unchanged in a chemical reaction. Enzymes are examples of biological catalysts, important in chemical reactions common to living systems.

Answer 54

Chloroplasts are organelles in the plant cell that contain chlorophyll and conduct photosynthesis.

Answer 55

In order to decipher whether a chemical reaction equation is balanced, you would look to see that the number of times each element appears as a reactant, equals the number of times it appears as a product.

Answer 56

The Kreb's Cycle is the beginning two stages of cellular respiration, in which glucose is transformed into a useable energy form known as ATP (adenosine troposphere). The Kreb's Cycle occurs in the cell's mitochondria and its reactions yield energy and CO2 (Carbon Dioxide).

Answer 57

Glycolysis literally means "glykys", "sweet sugar", and "lyein", to "loosen". So glycolysis in cellular respiration refers to a simple sugar (glucose) being broken down to yield ATP, as energy.

Answer 58

The Calvin Cycle is a three-stage metabolic pathway (carbon fixation, reduction, and regeneration) located in the stroma of the chloroplast in which carbon enters as CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and leaves in a useful form of energy (sugar).

Answer 59

Pant and animal cells are both eukaryotic cells, meaning they contain a true nucleus. Plant cells have cell walls causing them to be rectangular in shape, they contain chloroplasts, causing them to appear green, and they have a large central vacuole. Animal cells are round in shape, have small vacuoles, and animal cells contain centrioles that are helpful in cell division.

Answer 60

Mitosis is body cell (somatic) division. The purpose of mitosis is for growth and repair of body cells. For example, skin cells go through mitosis to make more to themselves. There is one division in mitosis with the end result being two identical "daughter" diploid cells to the "parent" cell. Meiosis is sex cell (gamete) reproduction. Meiosis is really just applied genetics.; it is the mechanism for what creates the genetic diversity all around us resulting from sexual reproduction. The purpose of meiosis is reproduction and there are two divisions, resulting in four non-identical to parent haploid daughter cells.

Answer 61

"Pro" means "before"; and "karyote" means "nucleus"; therefore a prokaryote refers to a cell without a nucleus. An example of a prokaryotic organism is bacteria. Prokaryotes were the first cell of the two to evolve; they have circular chromosomes and may have pili. "Eu" means "true"; and "karyote" means "nucleus"; therefore a eukaryote refers to a cell with a true nucleus. An example of a eukaryotic organism is a human. Eukaryotes have membrane-bound organelles and a defined nucleus. Eukaryotic cells tend to be larger than prokaryotic cells; both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells contain a cell membrane, genetic information, and cytoplasm.

Answer 62

Radiation effects frequently dividing cells, and can be used to target cancer cells; cancer cells divide more frequently than normal cells (cancer is essentially mitosis (body cell division) gone out of control/awry), and so cancer cells have much less time to repair DNA damage cause by radiation since they are dividing so rapidly; unfortunately other areas of the body naturally have frequently dividing cells (such as the gastrointestinal tract, cells in bone marrow, ect.) and so areas of the body where cells such as these are prevalent are extremely vulnerable to effects of radiation. That is why upset stomachs and diarrhea are common and uncomfortable side effects from radiation therapy.

Answer 63

An allele is an alternative version of a gene. Each inherited trait consist of 2 alleles; we inherit 1 version or 1 allele for each trait from each of our parents. For example, if my mother had dimples and her genotype was DD (homozygous dominant), and my father had no dimples and his genotype was dd (homozygous recessive), then I would receive an allele from my mother "D" and an allele from my father "d" for dimples, causing me to have dimples (my phenotype, or physical expression would be that I had dimples on my cheeks) and my genotype (what my alleles are) would be "Dd" also known as heterozygous.

Answer 64

Genetic mutations occur when the nucleotide sequence (A, C, G, T) in an organism's DNA is changed. Mutations may result from errors during DNA replication and from exposure to mutagens like radiation and chemicals. Most genetic mutations have no effect at all, but some have very dramatic effects. It is important to remember that genetic mutations help to promote genetic variation is species and so they help in the process of natural selection and evolution. There are several categories of genetic mutations; a frame shift mutation significantly changes the protein sequence; a point mutation where one letter in the DNA sequence changes, but protein synthesis continues as usual; and a nonsense mutation which creates a stop condon, essentially creating non functional proteins.

Answer 65

The Principle of Independent Assortment states that allele pairs separate independently during gamete formation, and therefore traits are transmitted independently of one another by chromosomes.

Answer 66

The Principle of Segregation put forth be Mendel, states that an individual inherits an allele for each trait from each parent, and that during gamete (sex cell) formation (meiosis), the alleles inherited are a matter of chance.

Answer 67

Crossing over is part of meiosis and it is responsible for genetic diversity, and even what contributes to siblings looking different from one another.

Answer 68

Homeostasis refers to a body or cells self-regulating drive to maintain internal equilibrium or stability even as external conditions change. An example of homeostasis in humans is when the body sweats to cool itself in an effort to maintain the body's internal temperature of ~98.6 degrees F; also when we shiver to produce heat to stay warm on a cold day, this too is an example of homeostasis. Homeostasis is important in the maintenance of many bodily systems and of life itself.

Answer 69

B cells are acquired immune cells that target pathogens present in the body's fluids. T cells are also acquired immune cells that target pathogens inside the body's cells. Red Blood Cells (RBCs) are iron rich, oxygen carrying cells in the blood. White Blood Cells (WBCs) are immune cells produced in bone marrow and found in blood and lymph; they protect and defend the body against infectious disease and foreign invaders to the body.

Answer 70

Some research tools include: assorted microscopes (such as the scanning electron microscope), ultrasound technology, CT scans, and MRI.

Answer 71

Unifying themes in science are the enduring "big ideas", such as theories, that are key to organizing and understanding science concepts. In Biology, evolution helps account for the adaptations of organisms to their environment via natural selection; in Geology, plate tectonics helps account for major geological events as well as important features of the Earth's surface; and Biogeography serves as a unifying theme in ecology by explains geographic distribution of biological organisms around the world.

Answer 72

There is a great deal of chemistry that serves as a foundation for earth science. For example, an earth scientist would need to be very familiar with the a Periodic Table of Elements in order to more fully understand Earth structure and processes.

Answer 73

Integrated science provides a holistic and interdisciplinary understanding of the natural world around us. It exposes learned to the interconnections of systems on earth and beyond, and integrated science is currently at the cutting edge interface of new discovery, innovative research, and interdisciplinary collaboration in science.

Answer 74

The scientific perspective describes a way of thinking about the natural world. It describes the methodologies scientists use to investigate and gain understanding about the structure of the world and the processes that occur therein.

FAQs Flashcards

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