Lecture 1

Question 1

4 reasons water is important for life

Answer 1

1. Transportation of molecules in and out of the cells
2. reactions to take place
3. regulation of heat
4. solution, breakdown and absorption of nutrients

Question 2

is water polar or non-polar?

Answer 2

polar

Question 3

what makes water polar? (extended explanation)

Answer 3

oxygen side is negatively charged, while the hydrogen side is positively charged

reasons:
1. oxygen is more electro-negative than hydrogen and pulls harder on the shared electron
2. the lone electron pairs repel each other more than the bonding electron pairs so the molecule has a bent shape.

Question 4

what kind of bond does water utilize?

Answer 4

hydrogen bonds

Question 5

how does waters bonds affect specific heat capacity?

Answer 5

water molecules stick together so it takes a lot of energy to change the temperature of water

Question 6

what source of energy is not able to fuel life?

Answer 6

Heat

Question 7

how do chemoautotrophs obtain energy?

Answer 7

use energy from the oxidation of inorganic molecules to fix carbon?

Question 8

where do chemosynthesizing organisms live?

Answer 8

near hydro thermic vents at the bottom of the ocean

can support entire ecosystems where sunlight is completely absent

Question 9

what do biogenic elements do? (C, H, O, N, P, S)

Answer 9

build up organic macromolecules that are essential for life

(DNA, RNA, Carbohydrates, proteins)

Question 10

are viruses parasitic or non- parasitic?

Answer 10

Parasitic

need to infect a cell of a living organism in order to produce proteins and reproduce