Biology Ev1 Quiz The History of Earth

If Earth’s history is thought as a 24-hour day, humans would have appeared only during the last _____________ of that day.

• second

• minute

• hour

• half

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of organisms that lived in the past.

• true

• false

The record of life that unfolded over four billion years and pieced back together through the analysis of fossils is known as this.

• Molecular Clock

• Geologic Time Scale

• Fossil Record

• Relative Dating

This technique can determine which of two fossils is older or younger than the other, but not their age in years.

• relative dating

• absolute dating

• molecular clocks

• none of these

This can determine the age of a fossil by analyzing the amount of carbon-14 or other radioactive element that remains in a fossil. 

• relative dating

• absolute dating

• molecular clocks

• none of these

The geologic time scale uses DNA sequences (or the proteins they encode) to estimate relatedness among species.

• true

• false

Molecular clocks are based on the assumption that mutations accumulate through time at a steady average rate for a given region of DNA. Species that have accumulated greater differences in their DNA sequences are assumed to have diverged from their common ancestor in the more distant past.

• true

• false

The geologic time scale divides Earth’s history into divisions . What factors are these based on? (check all that apply)

• geology

• evolution of life

• DNA sequences

• Species in the fossil record

• climate

To be preserved as fossils, remains must be covered slowly by sediments to allow for the calcification of bones, teeth and other hard parts of an organism.

• true

• false

Which of these are fossils? (check all that apply)

• A lizard trapped in amber

• A rock from deep below the sea floor

• Human footprints that were saved when the sand turned to stone

• The body of a baby mammoth frozen in a glacier.

• The bone of a recently killed elk