Unit 1: Biology as a Science

Question 1

cell

Answer 1

the smallest unit of life

Question 2

homeostasis

Answer 2

the ability to maintain stable internal conditions

Question 3

feedback mechanisms

Answer 3

processes that respond to stimuli, sometimes used to maintain homeostasis (positive loop)

Question 4

stimulus

Answer 4

signal to which an organism responds

Question 5

sexual reproduction

Answer 5

two parents’ cells join to create offspring

Question 6

asexual reproduction

Answer 6

a single organism produces offspring identical to itself

Question 7

autotroph

Answer 7

organism that can make its own food

Question 8

heterotroph

Answer 8

organism that has to eat other things for energy

Question 9

photosynthesis

Answer 9

the process that plants use to turn light energy (normally sunlight) into chemical energy

Question 10

chemosynthesis

Answer 10

a process that organisms (mostly bacteria) use to convert chemical energy into food (think photosynthesis, just different types of energy)

Question 11

metabolism

Answer 11

chemical reactions that an organism uses to build up or break down materials

Question 12

hypothesis

Answer 12

scientific explanation for observations that can be tested

Question 13

inference

Answer 13

logical interpretation based on previous knowledge

Question 14

theory

Answer 14

a well tested and proven scientific concept, understood to be a fact, could change based on new evidence

Question 15

law

Answer 15

statements that have been well tested, factual, could change, also proven by mathematics normally

Question 16

observation

Answer 16

noticing and describing events, objects, etc.

Question 17

experiment

Answer 17

a process performed to test a hypothesis/answer a question in which observations and data is collected to make conclusions

Question 18

qualitative data

Answer 18

data that records qualities or categories, is observed, descriptive

Question 19

quantitative data

Answer 19

data that records numbers, is measured, numerical

Question 20

independent variable

Answer 20

variable that is purposely changed

Question 21

dependent variable

Answer 21

variable that is changed as a result of the other, the effect

Question 22

controlled variable

Answer 22

variables that stay the same among all groups

Question 23

control group

Answer 23

group that remains the same, the “baseline”

Question 24

experimental group

Answer 24

group in which the independent variable is changed to find out what happens

Question 25

mode

Answer 25

the number that appears the most often

Question 26

median

Answer 26

the middle number

Question 27

mean

Answer 27

the average, add up all the data points and divide by number of data points