Science: Energy and Food Flashcards
(58 cards)
1
Q
What is a herbivore
A
An animal that only eats plants
2
Q
What is a carnivore
A
An animal that feeds on animals or products that animals make
3
Q
What is omnivore
A
An animal that eats both plants and animals
4
Q
What is a producer
A
Plants; make their own food from photosynthesis
5
Q
What is primary consumer
A
Herbivores
6
Q
What is secondary consumer
A
Carnivores that eat primary consumers
7
Q
What is tertiary consumer
A
Carnivores that eat secondary consumers
8
Q
What is photosynthesis
A
When plants use water and carbon dioxide to make a sugar called glucose, in the process of giving off oxygen into the air
9
Q
What is obtain?
A
To get something
10
Q
What is chlorophyll
A
A substance that absorbs sunlight energy
11
Q
What is maintain
A
To keep stable and consistent
12
Q
What is endotherm
A
An animal that uses energy stored in its body to keep its body within a normal range of temperature
13
Q
What is ectotherm
A
An animal that depends on its environment to warm its body
14
Q
What is metabolism
A
The collection of chemical processes that break down and build molecules in a living organism
15
Q
What is respiration
A
The metabolic process of getting energy from food (carbohydrates) that uses oxygen and releases CO2
16
Q
How do plants get energy from food?
A
They use matter from the environment and energy from sunlight to build food molecules such as sugar and starch.
17
Q
True or false: both plants and animals use some of the energy from food to make their parts
A
True
18
Q
Why do many herbivores have complex digestive systems?
A
Because plant material can be difficult to digest
19
Q
Aside from humans, what other animals are omnivores?
A
Pigs, birds
20
Q
What is a trophic level?
A
A diagram that that sorts plants and animals according to where they are in the food chain and how they obtain energy
21
Q
True or false: all energy from food that animals eat can be traced back to the sun.
A
True
22
Q
How are herbivores and carnivores similar?
A
They are both consumers, where they cannot produce their own food, and must obtain energy by consuming other organisms. In this way, both ultimately rely on the sun’s energy.
23
Q
What are 2 ways that plants use energy from food?
A
(1) They use sugar to build new cells, tissues, and organs (like leaves, stems, and roots), and (2) they break down sugar to generate energy
24
Q
What molecules do plants need to make food?
A
Water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2)
25
What is C₆H₁₂O₆
Glucose
26
How do plants use glucose?
As food, or stored in long chain like molecule called starch
27
Describe plants' structure that help plants obtain the matter and energy needed for photosynthesis
Water travels from the ground through its roots
Water travels from roots to leaves through tubes in the stem
Carbon dioxide in the air enters plants through the stomata (small openings on the surface of plants)
Plants trap sunlight energy in structures called chloroplasts, which contain chlorophyll, a substance that absorbs sunlight energy
28
How do plants gain mass (grow and get bigger)?
Plant mass is made up of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen
Water provides hydrogen while air provides carbon and oxygen
Chlorophyll absorbs energy from the sun, which is used to combine carbon dioxide and water into glucose, which is the building block for plant tissues (leaves, stems, and roots)
Plants also need other nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous from the soil to help it grow
29
How does temperature affect photosynthesis?
Some of the reactions in photosynthesis can take place only in certain temperatures.
For example, plants cannot live in cold weather where water is frozen, because frozen water cannot travel through the plant.
And transpiration (when pants take in carbon dioxide from the air or release oxygen into the air) can only happen in warmer temperatures.
30
True or false: many animals depend on eating plants for important nutrients such as phoshporous
True.
Humans need phosphorous for strong bones and teeth.
31
What are 3 things that animals get from eating plants?
Food, energy and nutrients
32
True or false: the body temperature for all animals (including humans) have a similar range
False
33
True or false: all mammals and birds are warm blooded
True
34
True or false: all fish, reptiles, and insects are ectotherems
False.
Most fish are, but some are not, such as tuna, swordfish and some sharks
35
Describes what happens when animal eats food
It takes chemical energy from the food. This chemical energy is then released to provide the animal's cells with energy to they need to perform life processes such as growing, healing and to perform daily tasks.
36
What factors impact an ectotherm's metabolism?
Body temperature.
When it's warm, an ectotherm's metabolism speeds up, and the opposite is true when it's cold.
37
Why do some small endotherms have fast metablism?
They get cold faster, so they need to to break down food to get energy quickly in order to stay warm. That's why small endotherms need to eat more often.
38
What are some immediate sources of energy available from plants, that can be consumed by animals?
Sugars and starches
39
What is a calorie?
Unit of energy used to measure the amount of energy stored in food. It is defined as the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 liter (1kg) of water by 1C.
40
True or false: a child of 10-12 years old need at least 3000 calories/day
False. They need a minimum of 2200 calories/day. 60-75% of that energy is needed for normal functions of your organs to keep you alive. 20% of that is used by the brain alone.
41
True or false: animals have more complex structure than plants, so they need more variety of food to provide nutrients and energy to function and grow.
True
42
Describe cellular respiration: what is it, what are the key steps?
It is the process cells use to convert food and oxygen into a significant amount of ATP energy for the cell, releasing carbon dioxide and water as waste products.
These are the 3 main steps, primarily happening inside the mitochondrion.
(1) Glycolysis: This first step breaks down "Food" (specifically, glucose) into pyruvic acid. This step also produces 2 ATP molecules.
(2) Krebs Cycle: The pyruvic acid then moves into the mitochondrion, where it enters the Krebs Cycle. During this cycle, more ATP (2 ATP) is produced, and carbon dioxide (CO₂) is released.
(3) Electron Transport: The final step is the Electron Transport chain, which also takes place in the mitochondrion. Here, with the help of oxygen (O₂), a large amount of ATP (34 ATP) is generated, and water (H₂O) is produced as a byproduct.
43
During the 3 main steps of cellular respiration, where does most of the ATP energy get produced?
Most of the ATP (34 ATP) is produced in the Electron Transport step.
44
Why is food web a better model than food chains, when modeling the flow of matter and energy through an ecosystem?
While food chains are useful for basic understanding, they are too simple. Food webs provide a more complete flow of energy and matter through a healthy ecosystem:
- Food chains are too simple because it shows just one single path of energy transfer, while real ecosystems are much more complicated.
- Most animals don't eat just one type of food, and one animal can be food for many different predators. A food chain can't show all these different options.
- On the other hand, food web is made up of many interconnected food chains and shows all the different feeding relationships in an ecosystem which more accurately represents how energy and matter flow along multiple pathways.
45
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an endotherm vs an ectotherm?
Endotherm advantages:
- Endotherms can keep their body temperature pretty much the same, no matter if it's cold or hot outside, so they can live in many different places.
- They don't have to slow down or hibernate just because it gets cold. They can keep hunting, finding food, and moving around even when the weather isn't warm.
- Keeping a warm and steady body temperature helps their muscles work quickly and powerfully, which is great for hunting prey or escaping predators.
Disadvantages:
- Keeping their body warm takes a lot of energy! This means endotherms have to eat a lot more food than ectotherms.
- Because they need so much energy, they can't go without food for very long.
- They need fur, feathers, blubber, or behaviors (like sweating or panting) to help control their body temperature, which requires more effort.
Ectotherm advantages:
- Ectotherms don't use much energy to heat their bodies, so they need much less food. This means they can survive even when food is hard to find, and they don't have to hunt as often.
- They can survive for long periods without eating, sometimes weeks or even months, because their energy needs are so low.
- They can hide in cool places to avoid overheating or warm up in sunny spots when they need to be active.
Disadvantages:
- Their body temperature depends on the outside temperature. If it's too cold, they become slow and sluggish, making it hard to hunt, escape, or even move. If it's too hot, they can overheat.
- They often have to bask in the sun to warm up before they can become active. In cold climates, they might have to hibernate or become completely inactive.
- Their muscles and body processes work more slowly when they are cold, making them less agile or quick compared to warm-blooded animals.
46
What are the key chemicals that humans need?
Water, carbohydrates, fiber, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals
47
True or false: humans can survive around 10 days without water
False.
We can survive around 3 days without water.
48
How is water important to our bodies?
It helps regulate the body's temperature, it helps in removing waste, it protects joints and spinal cord, it helps absorb nutrients from food, and helps to strengthen the immunity system.
49
What are the 3 main groups of carbohydrates?
Sugars (simple carbs), starches (complex carbs) and fiber.
Carbohydrates are our main source of energy.
50
True or false: animals can make carbohydrates.
False.
Only plants make carbohydrates.
51
Why is fiber an important part of our diet?
Fiber cannot be broken down for energy, but its is very important for digestion and regulating sugar levels in our blood.
52
True or false: saturated fats are the good fats, while unsaturated fats are the bad fats to avoid.
False.
It's the opposite.
53
Why are good fats important to consumer?
Some vitamins need fats to be absorbed into our body.
54
What do our bodies need protein for?
Our bodies make proteins to make and repair cells.
55
True or false: our bodies do not use the proteins we eat - our bodies break them down into amino acids to make its own proteins.
True
56
Why are meats sometimes a better source of protein than plants?
We need 21 types of amino acids, and our bodies produce 12 of those. The rest (9) needs to be sourced from food.
Meats contain all 9, but most plants do not.
57
What is a vitamin?
13 chemical compounds that our body cannot make on its own (that are not water, carbs, fats or amino acids) but needs to function correctly.
58
True or false: there are 16 minerals that our body needs to function.
True
