9th Grade Biology Exam Questions

What is studied in Biology?
Study of any living organism, including extinct species

What are the 8 characteristics of life? How many does something need to have to be classified as living?
G?ood - ?G?row & Develop
C?ows - made of one or more ?c?ells
O?nly - displays ?o?rganization
E?at - requires ?e?nergy
S?ome - responds to ?s?timulus
H?ay - maintains ?h?omeostasis
A?fter - has ?a?daptations
R?esting - result of ?r?eproduction

What is the metric system and why is it used in science? Know how to calculate metric conversions WITHOUT a calculator. (?K?ing ?H?enry ?D?ied ?B?y ?D?rinking ?C?hocolate ?M?ilk) system of measurement based on 10's
-used in science so everyone is using the same system and it's easy to convert
between units
-use pneumonic above to determine how many places to move decimal and in which
direction

What are the steps of the scientific method in order? There are seven.
?Observation
Question
Research
Write a hypothesis
Conduct a controlled experiment
Collect and analyze data
Report findings

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative data?
Qualitative - data that is descriptive like behavior, color
Quantitate - numerical data

What is the difference between an observation and an inference? Can you give an example of each? Which one comes first?
Observation - direct method of gathering information in an orderly way
Inference - combining what you've observed/learned with previous experience to draw a logical conclusion
An observation comes before an inference. For example, you observe rain clouds outside, based on that observation and previous experience you can infer that it might rain.

What is the difference between a control group and an experimental group? Why is it important to have a control group?
Control group - group that is not exposed to what is being tested, 'normal' conditions
Experimental group - a group that is being exposed to what is being tested
The Control group is important because it is used to compare the results from the experimental group.

What is the difference between an independent and dependent variable?
?Independent variable - variable that is being tested, what the experimenter is changing
Dependent variable - what is being measured, variable is dependent on what experimenter changed (independent variable)

What is the difference between an autotroph and a heterotroph? Are plants an autotroph or heterotroph? Are animals an autotroph or heterotroph?
Autotroph - organism that can make its own food
Heterotroph - organism that has to ingest food to obtain energy , can't make its own food
Plants are autotrophs (make their food [glucose] through photosynthesis)
Animals are heterotrophs (have to eat plants or animals that eat plants to obtain food)

What is the function of an enzyme?
Speeds up a chemical reaction by lowering the activation energy needed to start the reaction

What's the difference between magnification and resolution? How do you calculate magnification on a compound microscope?
Magnification - how much closer you see something
Resolution - how clearly you see something
Total magnification = (ocular lens) x (objective lens)

What are the similarities and differences between Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic cells?

In prokaryotes, DNA is bundled together in the nucleoid region, but it is not stored within a membrane-bound nucleus. The nucleus is only one of many membrane-bound organelles in eukaryotes. Prokaryotes, on the other hand, have no membrane-bound organelles. Another important difference is the DNA structure.
 

What parts of the phospholipid ?bilayer? are hydrophilic and hydrophobic?
Hydrophilic- likes water 'polar head'
Hydrophobic- Hates water 'fatty acid tails'

?What is selective permeability?
Refers to the plasma/cell membrane and means that the cell membrane only allows certain things in and out of the cell

?What are the 4 components that make up the plasma membrane?
Phospholipid
Protein
Carbohydrate
Cholesterol

?Which organelles are unique to plant cells? To animal cells? Can you compare and contrast plant and animal cells?
Differences (contrast)
Plant cell - cell wall, chloroplasts, large central vacuole
Animals - centrioles, lysosome, small vacuole

Similarities (compare)
nucleus, mitochondria, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi body, nucleolus,

What's the difference between active and passive transport? Can you provide an example of each?
Active transport (requires energy/ATP)
1. Protein pump
2. Endocytosis
3. Exocytosis
Passive transport (does not require energy)
1. Diffusion
2. Facilitated diffusion
3. osmosis

What is ATP and what is it made of? Why does the cell need it? How is energy released from ATP?
ATP is the molecule cells use for energy.
ATP is made of phosphate, ribose, and adenine
Energy is released from ATP when the bond between the last 2 phosphates is broken.

Be able to draw/explain the ATP/ADP cycle.

What is the balanced chemical equation for photosynthesis? What are the two stages of photosynthesis? What are the inputs and outputs for each stage?
6H?2? O+ 6CO?2? ?-------> C?6? H?12? O?6? + 6O?2

Photosynthesis
1. Light reactions
Inputs: sunlight, H?2?O (water)
Outputs: O?2 ?
(oxygen released as waste)
NADPH and ATP (move on to next stage in photosynthesis)
2. Calvin cycle/dark reactions
Inputs: NADPH and ATP (from light reactions) CO?2 ?
(carbon dioxide)
Output: C?6?H?12?O?6?

?What is aerobic cellular respiration? What is the equation for it? What are the three stages of it? What are the inputs and outputs for each stage?
C?6?H?12? O?6? + 6O?2 ? -----> 6H?2?O + 6CO?2 (view study guide)

How much ATP is made in each stage of aerobic cellular respiration? How much is made in total through the entire process of aerobic cellular respiration?
Glycolysis - 2 ATP
Krebs cycle - 2 ATP
Electron transport chain - 32 ATP

Do plants undergo cellular respiration or just photosynthesis? Explain.
Plants use both aerobic cellular respiration and photosynthesis. They use photosynthesis to make glucose and then aerobic cellular respiration to break down the glucose to make ATP.

What is the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration?
?The products of photosynthesis (oxygen and glucose) are the reactants from aerobic cellular respiration and the products of aerobic cellular respiration (water and carbon dioxide) are the reactants for photosynthesis

What is the difference between aerobic and anaerobic cellular respiration?
Aerobic requires oxygen and anaerobic does not.

What are the two types of fermentation? When do cells use fermentation? What organisms use each type?
Lactic acid - animals and some bacteria
Ethanol/alcohol fermentation - yeast and some bacteria

What problem does fermentation solve?
It allows the cell to make a small amount of ATP when oxygen is low. It also
regenerates NAD+ for glycolysis.

How much ATP in total is produced from anaerobic cellular respiration?
2 ATP

What happens to the surface area to volume ratio as the cell gets larger? Why is this important?
Surface area to volume ratio gets smaller as the cell gets larger. This is important because a cell wants a large surface area to volume ratio. As the cell gets larger, the volume increases faster than the surface area making the ratio smaller. It can't maintain
homeostasis if it gets too large.

?What are two problems that cells face if they are too large?
If the cell becomes too large: transportation of nutrients and waste AND communication become
inefficient. The distance to travel is to/from the cell membrane is too long.

What are the three main stages of the cell cycle? Which stage is the longest?
Interphase - longest stage
Mitosis
Cytokinesis

What are the three stages of interphase and what happens in each stage?
G?1? - cell is growing, getting ready to copy DNA
S - DNA is copied
G?2?- Cell is getting ready to divide, organelles are copied, centrioles form

What are the four stages of mitosis? What are the main events occurring at each stage?
Prophase - chromatin is condensing into chromosomes, nuclear membrane disappears, centrioles
move to poles of the cell, the nucleolus disappears, spindle starts to form
Metaphase - chromosomes move to the middle of the cell
Anaphase - sister chromatids are pulled apart
Telophase - two new nuclei are formed, nuclear membrane and nucleolus reappear, centrioles
disappear, spindle comes apart, chromosomes relax into chromatin

What are sister chromatids? Where are they joined together?
Centromere- holds sister chromatins together
Sister chromatins- identical copies of a chromosome

How is cytokinesis different for animal and plant cells?
animal cell - cleavage furrow forms and pinches together until the 2 cells come apart
Plant cell - cell plate forms in middle and grows until it becomes a cell wall dividing the two new
cells

What types of cells undergo mitosis and the cell cycle?
Eukaryotes, they have a nucleus
Prokaryotes (bacteria) do not have a nucleus, so they do not undergo mitosis.

How many daughter cells are produced during mitosis? Are they identical or different? How many
chromosomes do the daughter cells have?
1 parent cell will produce 2 daughter cells during one round of mitosis. They will be identical.
So... if the parent cell has 24 chromosomes, the 2 daughter cells will have 24 chromosomes each.

Note: ? ?

1. Be familiar with the function and characteristics of carbohydrates, lipids (saturated vs. unsaturated), proteins, and nucleic acids. Be able to identify the monomers of each. A chart would be useful.saturated), proteins, and nucleic acids. Be able to identify the monomers of each. A chart would be useful.

2. ?Know the definition/structure/function of the following: cytoplasm, cytoskeleton, nucleus, ribosomes, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, rough endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, vacuoles, lysosomes, centrioles, mitochondria, chloroplasts, cell wall, cilia, and flagella.