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WorksheetsBiology Unit 1 Test Prep
Total questions: 29
Worksheet time: 30mins
A group of students conducted a science fair experiment to find out how the amount of fertilizer used will affect the growth of radish plants. The experiment was done using amounts of fertilizer lower and higher than the manufacturer’s recommendation of 100%.
Use the table to analyze the data of the growth of the radish plants measured after 10 days. Which inference is supported by the data?
Giving radish plants too little or too much fertilizer will not affect plant growth.
Giving radish plants too little or too much fertilizer will slow down plant growth.
Giving radish plants more fertilizer will increase plant growth.
Giving radish plants less fertilizer will increase plant growth.
Giving radish plants too little fertilizer is better than giving them too much.
Megan is talking with her brother about a scientific theory that Megan is studying. “I don’t believe what the scientists say, because that’s just a theory,” her brother says. “If those scientists were certain, then it would be a law, not just a theory.”
Which statement is the BEST explanation of her brother's statement?
Her brother has a misconception that theories become laws and is confusing the scientific use of theory with the everyday use.
Her brother is confusing the meanings of scientific law and scientific theory.
Her brother has a misconception about the types of questions that science can answer and which are addressed by other ways of knowing.
Her brother is confusing the meanings of the terms theory and hypothesis.
Her brother thinks that scientists are not trustworthy.
How is the word theory used in science?
Scientists use the word theory when they mean that they have a hunch or a guess.
Scientists never use the word theory when it applies to a tested, highly reliable scientific explanation of events in the natural world.
Scientists use the word theory when a hypothesis is well supported and it unifies a broad range of observations.
Scientists use the word theory when they are not certain about an idea.
Scientists use the word theory when only in biology and not in other sciences.
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described as resembling a horse, with a single, spiraling horn in the center of its forehead. What role, if any, could the unicorn have in the science of biology?
The unicorn could be the subject of an investigation of horses.
The unicorn could be used to test new ideas about animal evolution.
The unicorn could provide data for the body structure of real animals.
The unicorn is not real and therefore has no role in biological investigations.
The unicorn can only be used when describing theories.
Phrenology was the study of the bumps on the human head, and using those bumps to determine a person’s character traits, such as wit or combativeness. It was developed by a German doctor who noted features on people’s skulls and then looked at other people to find similar features. If he did, he evaluated what he knew about them to find character and personality traits that they had in common.
Although it was popular at the time, phrenology has been discredited and is now considered a pseudoscience. What is the MOST LIKELY reason that phrenology would not have been scientifically valid?
Not everyone has bumps on their head and therefore the research sample would have been too small to be valid.
The doctor did not publish a paper about his research.
The results are not verifiable and repeatable and cannot predict future behavior.
Head bumps can result from external means, and so they would not reflect character.
Better instruments are needed to measure the features of heads.
In 1989, two scientists claimed to have succeeded in causing a nuclear fusion reaction to take place at room temperature. Their report was met with tremendous excitement because cold fusion, as it was called, could produce electricity with few drawbacks.
After they published their paper, other scientists attempted to recreate their experiment, which involved running an electric current through seawater and a metal called palladium. However, they could not replicate the results. After the published paper was examined closely, the scientists were found to have made experimental errors.
Which of the following statements best applies to this scenario?
The scientific community evaluated the reports of cold fusion and could not validate the claims.
The theory of cold fusion would have become a scientific law if another team of researchers had managed to reproduce the experimental results.
Science could not answer the question of cold fusion because it is involves the influence of the supernatural.
The scientists published their paper in a low-quality scientific journal because a better journal would not have printed it.
The scientists relied on theories instead of laws.
The disease polio sickened thousands of children. The graph depicts the number of polio cases that occurred between 1952 and 1973, based on information from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Centers for Disease Control. Based on the data shown, which of the following statements is true?
Introducing a vaccine for polio had no effect on the number of cases diagnosed each year.
The polio vaccine was effective in protecting thousands of people from the disease.
The vaccine proved ineffective because cases of polio rose between 1957 and 1959.
The sources of the data are not reliable and therefore the data should be ignored.
The decline in polio cases began before 1955 so the vaccine must have been present before then.
For many years, scientists thought that the universe was static—that it had always existed and been the same, and was neither expanding or contracting. Then, in the late 1920s, Edwin Hubble recognized that the shift in light from distant objects toward the red end of the spectrum meant that those objects were moving away from Earth. The best explanation for these observations was that the universe was not static, but was expanding. More recent observations, such as cosmic background radiation, are also better explained by an expanding universe rather than a static universe.
What aspect of scientific methodology BEST explains the replacement of the static universe theory with the expanding universe theory?
Science and its methods are always improving. Scientists needed newer, more sensitive instruments to detect the slow expansion of the universe.
Hubble’s observations were extremely popular with the public, leading to overwhelming support for the new theory.
The natural progression of science is that all theories are eventually replaced by new theories until one is established as law.
The new theory explained Hubble’s observations, and was tested and supported by additional observations. It was accepted because it was the most powerful explanation available for many observations.
The static universe theory had to be replaced when it became a law.
Maya is researching the effects of vaccinations. She has found a large number of references online, and is unsure as to which ones she should trust. Choose the source Maya should be MOST skeptical of its credibility, accuracy, and possible bias.
a website maintained by the federal government health care and disease agency
the crowdsourced entry on vaccine effectiveness on a wiki site
a website maintained by an international organization that monitors disease outbreaks around the world
an article written by a medical doctor on the website of a peer-reviewed medical journal
an article that summarizes the results of many peer-reviewed articles.
Scientists share findings with other scientists by publishing their hypotheses, experimental methods, results, and analysis in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
What is the importance of this step in scientific investigations?
It is restricted to final proven experimental results by established scientists.
It allows researchers to share ideas and certifies that their work is correct.
It allows researchers to share ideas and certifies that the work meets standards of the scientific community.
It is not recommended, as sharing ideas would give away the results to competitors.
It helps ensure that scientists will read journals.
The structure of glucose illustrates which of the following properties of carbon?
Carbon can form bonds with several other elements.
A carbon atom can form bonds with up to five other atoms.
Carbon atoms can bond only with oxygen.
Carbon can form bonds with only hydrogen.
Carbon atoms can form rings of hexagons only.
In glucose, each carbon atom forms how many bonds, and of what type?
one hydrogen bond
one hydroxyl bond
one hydrogen and three covalent bonds
four ionic bonds
four covalent bonds
A common science experiment is to place a celery stalk into a glass of water and food coloring. After some time, the food coloring appears in the celery. What chemical principle is modeled by this experiment?
The food coloring acts as a buffer, and the plant absorbs the food coloring in order to maintain a pH near 7.
The food coloring molecule carries a charge, and is attracted to oppositely charged molecules in the plant.
Water accounts for about 60 percent of the celery plant. The food coloring dissolves in the water in the celery and spreads throughout the plant.
The food coloring dissolves in the water in the glass. The water rises through vessels in the celery stem by capillary action, and carries the dissolved food coloring along with it.
The celery can use the food coloring as an energy source.
Which property of water best explains how salt is able to dissolve easily in water?
Water is a polar molecule.
Water has a high surface tension.
Water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen.
Water is a nonpolar molecule.
Water has a high heat capacity and melts the salt.
Marissa is investigating a biochemical reaction involving carbon compounds. The reaction requires a specific enzyme.
What is the role of the enzyme in this reaction?
to speed up the chemical reaction
to increase the activation energy of the reaction
to determine whether the reaction proceeds in the forward or reverse direction
to absorb the energy released by the reaction
to lengthen the carbon chain of each compound
The energy that is needed to get a reaction started is called its activation energy.
What type of reaction is shown in the graph?
an energy-absorbing reaction
an energy-releasing reaction
a reverse reaction
a spontaneous reaction
a normal reaction
Jules is designing an experiment to determine which temperature and pH the human enzyme pepsin, which acts in the stomach, is most effective at breaking apart proteins.
As predicted by established ideas about enzymes, which hypothesis will MOST likely be supported by the results of the experiment?
The enzyme is most effective at temperatures close to 370C and under acidic conditions.
The enzyme is most effective at temperatures close to 200C and under acidic conditions.
The enzyme is most effective at temperatures close to 370C and under alkaline conditions.
The enzyme is most effective at temperatures close to 120C and under alkaline conditions.
The enzyme is most effective at temperatures close to 370C and at any pH.
In addition to carbon, which elements are found in all biological macromolecules?
nitrogen and oxygen
hydrogen and nitrogen
calcium and hydrogen
hydrogen and oxygen
calcium and oxygen
Carbon can combine with other molecules to form large macromolecules such as complex carbohydrates, proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids. Which of the following is NOT a function of biological macromolecules?
Biological macromolecules are used to store energy.
Biological macromolecules store and transmit genetic information.
Biological macromolecules form structures in cells.
Biological macromolecules transmit signals between cells.
Biological macromolecules are solvents that can dissolve many ionic compounds and polar molecules.
The diagram shows the structure of alanine, an amino acid.
Evelyn is researching a procedure to synthesize alanine from glucose and other compounds. The procedure involves several chemical reactions. Most likely, one of the reactions will accomplish which of these tasks?
removing sulfur atoms from a 6-carbon sugar
adding oxygen atoms to a 6-carbon sugar
adding an amino group (-NH2) to a carbon compound
removing a carboxyl group (-COOH) from a carbon compound
forming a peptide bond
Choose the term that matches the definition:
"observations that may be quantitative or qualitative"
control group
data
hypothesis
inference
Choose the term that matches the definition:
"a tentative, testable scientific explanation"
control group
data
hypothesis
inference
Choose the term that matches the definition:
"useful for determining the effect of the independent variable"
control group
data
hypothesis
inference
Choose the term that matches the definition:
"a logical interpretation based on prior knowledge"
control group
data
hypothesis
inference
Some ideas in science are classified as theories, while others are classified as laws. Determine whether the following statement is a theory, law, or both.
"Strongly supported by many experimental results."
theory
law
both
Some ideas in science are classified as theories, while others are classified as laws. Determine whether the following statement is a theory, law, or both.
"Provides an explanation for a wide variety of observations."
theory
law
both
Some ideas in science are classified as theories, while others are classified as laws. Determine whether the following statement is a theory, law, or both.
"Describes an expected behavior, but does not explain it."
theory
law
both
Some ideas in science are classified as theories, while others are classified as laws. Determine whether the following statement is a theory, law, or both.
"Is never reclassified into another category."
theory
law
both
The diagram shows the structure of alanine, an amino acid.
James wants to revise the diagram of alanine to show the structure of threonine, another amino acid. Which section of the diagram must he replace?
the amino group (-NH2)
the carboxyl group (-COOH)
the methyl group (-CH3)
the hydrogen atom (-H)
the central carbon atom (C)
