Biology: A Guide to the Natural World, 5e (Krogh)
Chapter 1 Science as a Way of Learning: A Guide to the Natural World
1) What invention by Bell Labs in 1947 brought about modern electronics?
A) the invention of software
B) the invention of the transistor
C) the invention of the CD
D) the invention of the computer
2) Science presents society with ________, about which society then makes decisions.
A) values
B) theories
C) options
D) worst-case scenarios
3) Because scientists are in the business of investigating nature, scientists function as:
A) society’s eyes and ears on the natural world.
B) political advisors.
C) authorities on the natural world.
D) protectors of the natural world.
4) Which of the following is at the root cause for all cancers?
A) antibiotic resistance
B) obesity
C) the normal cell division process
D) a breakdown of the cell division process
5) Which of the following is true?
A) A scientific theory is a hunch about a natural event.
B) A scientific fact and a scientific theory carry the same weight in the scientific community.
C) A scientific theory explains what we know to this date about a natural event.
D) A scientific theory is the final answer to a question about a natural event.
6) Choose the answer that best describes the sequence of the scientific method.
A) experiment, observation, hypothesis, conclusion
B) hypothesis, experiment, observation, conclusion
C) guess, hypothesis, experiment, conclusion
D) observation, hypothesis, experiment, absolute fact
E) observation, hypothesis, experiment, conclusion
7) The role of a control in an experiment is to:
A) prove a hypothesis is correct.
B) ensure the experiment can be repeated.
C) prove that a hypothesis is correct and ensure repeatability.
D) provide a basis of comparison to an experimental group.
8) We use the scientific method every day. Imagine your car doesn’t start one morning before
school. Which of these is a reasonable hypothesis regarding the problem?
A) I’m going to be late.
B) I’m out of gas.
C) Check to see whether your lights were left on all night.
D) Add a quart of oil.
9) A scientific explanation that is tentative and testable is termed a/an:
A) hypothesis.
B) theory.
C) fact.
D) control.
E) observation.
10) Which of the following is a theory?
A) There is molecular and biochemical evidence that all organisms are related.
B) Many people believe echinacea cures their colds.
C) A boy finds a chipped rock he believes is an arrowhead.
D) Many people claim that the Earth is only 6,000 years old.
11) The difference between a theory and a hypothesis is that a:
A) theory must be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.
B) hypothesis must be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.
C) hypothesis must be supported by evidence.
D) theory must be supported by evidence.
12) Which scientist disproved the theory of spontaneous generation?
A) Einstein
B) Watson
C) Pauling
D) Crick
E) Pasteur
13) A scientific finding is believed to be true until new evidence arises. This view is referred to
as:
A) provisional assent.
B) immutable laws.
C) a theory.
D) a supernatural explanation.
14) A good hypothesis must:
A) be falsifiable.
B) be false.
C) be theoretical.
D) lead to a question.
E) be true.
15) If you flip the light switch in your living room and nothing happens, what might be a good
hypothesis to explain the absence of light?
A) Electricity sometimes flows backward in a wire, preventing the light from shining.
B) The circuit breaker for the living room might be the “off” position.
C) You might have made too many telephone calls this month, thereby reducing the amount of
electricity in your lines.
D) The air conditioner is also running upstairs, and it might be using all of the electricity
available in your house at the moment.
16) Which one of the following is true about scientific knowledge?
A) Scientific knowledge is derived from careful thinking about the way things must work based
on application of a few fundamental principles.
B) When based on many experiments, scientific knowledge is absolutely true.
C) Scientific knowledge is acquired though teachings passed on by great scientists.
D) Scientific knowledge is not absolute, because the possibility is always held open that new
experiments may one day prove it wrong.
E) Scientific knowledge is derived from the strongest arguments made by the brightest scientists.
17) When Pasteur tested the hypothesis of spontaneous generation, he compared the ability of a
sterilized growth medium (meat broth) to produce a population of bacteria in two different types
of flasks. One had a simple neck open to the outside, and the other had a “goose neck” bend that
also was open to the environment. Pasteur expected that bacteria would appear in the flask with
the standard neck. In this experiment, the standard neck flask served as a/an:
A) observation.
B) variable.
C) control.
D) statistic.
E) hypothesis.
18) The questions that can be answered by science are:
A) limited by religious doctrine.
B) without limit.
C) limited by what can be investigated using the scientific method.
D) limited by what is found in the living world.
E) limited only by imagination.
19) Which of the following is the most complex level of organization?
A) a heart
B) a water molecule
C) a rainforest
D) the circulatory system
20) A tree in your backyard is home to robins, squirrels, beetles, and lichens. Together all these
organisms compose a/an:
A) biosphere.
B) organism.
C) population.
D) community.
E) niche.
21) Living things inherit information from their parents encoded in:
A) fats.
B) atoms.
C) proteins.
D) DNA.
22) The liver releases glucose into the bloodstream if you don’t eat for a long time. This
represents an example of a characteristic possessed by all living things. Which is it?
A) being composed of cells
B) being able to reproduce
C) possessing an inherited information base
D) maintaining a relatively constant internal environment
23) Which of the following is the correct order of complexity, going from least to most complex?
A) atom, molecule, organelle, cell, tissue, organ
B) organ, tissue, cell, organelle, atom, molecule
C) organ, tissue, cell, organelle, molecule, atom
D) molecule, atom, organ, tissue, cell, organelle
E) atom, molecule, organelle, cell, organ, tissue
24) Organelles are:
A) cells.
B) organisms.
C) a group of cells that serve a common function.
D) like tiny organs within cells.
E) proteins.
25) Tissues are grouped together in functional units called:
A) organelles.
B) cells.
C) organisms.
D) organs.
26) What is the difference between a tissue and an organ system?
A) Tissues are composed of organ systems.
B) Tissues are not composed of cells, but organ systems are composed of cells.
C) A tissue cannot exist unless it is part of an organ system, but an organ system can exist
independently of tissues.
D) An organ system includes tissues.
27) Which of the following is an example of how living things assimilate energy?
A) blinking at a bright light
B) producing a new generation of offspring
C) eating a meal
D) solving a mathematics problem
28) Biology developed as a science later than physics because:
A) biology is less complex than physics.
B) it is more difficult to come up with ways of describing nature.
C) biologists had to invent rules of the living world before they could describe the forms.
D) the living world is tremendously diverse compared to the non-living world.
29) Imagine you’re a biology instructor lecturing to a group of students interested in ecology, the
branch of biology that studies interactions between organisms and their environments. The
students complain bitterly that they’re not interested in atoms and molecules because these are
irrelevant to their interests. As a responsible instructor aiming to provide a complete and
meaningful education, you would state:
A) “You need to study atoms and molecules because the organization of life is hierarchical; this
implies that, to understand the complex (ecology), you first need to understand the simpler
underlying levels.”
B) “You need to study atoms and molecules because life exists at the level of the atom.”
C) “You need to study atoms and molecules because they’re important for many things.”
D) “You need to study atoms and molecules because all biologists, regardless of their specific
interests, should know about them.”
E) “You need to study atoms and molecules because it’s in the book.”
30) Evolution allows us to explain:
A) only the origin of life.
B) only the unity of life.
C) only the diversity of life.
D) both the diversity of life and how all living things are related.
31) Most U.S.-grown corn is genetically modified.
32) Goats can be cloned to provide us with human medicines.
33) It doesn’t matter whether a hypothesis is correct when it is first stated.
34) Observation of a natural event by more than one human or scientific instrument is the basis
of the scientific method.
35) The experiments of Louis Pasteur to disprove spontaneous generation illustrate the process
of the scientific method.
36) A theory must be supported by evidence.
37) A hypothesis must be supported by evidence.
38) All of the kinds of living things in a given area are called a ________.
39) In terms of the hierarchical organization of life, a bacterium is at the ________ level of
organization, and a human is at the ________ level of organization.
40) The scientist who demonstrated that the Earth moves around the sun was ________.
41) A set of disciplines that focuses on varying aspects of the living world falls under the
category of ________.
42) A unifying principle of biology states that there is a gradual modification of populations of
living things over time that sometimes results in new species. This principle is called ________.
Match the following.
A) population
B) cell
C) biosphere
D) molecule
E) ecosystem
43) All of the ecosystems of the Earth
Topic: Section 1.3
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
44) Communities interacting with non-living elements
Topic: Section 1.3
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
45) The building blocks of organelles
Topic: Section 1.3
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
46) The first level of organization that we can say is alive
Topic: Section 1.3
Skill: Application/Analysis
47) Members of the same species living in the same area
Topic: Section 1.3
Skill: Knowledge/Comprehension
48) Name three ways that science and technology enrich your life today.
49) Discuss why it is important that the public be knowledgeable about science.
50) What is meant by the statement “science is measurement”?
51) Using what you have learned in this chapter, explain how you would decide whether
multivitamins are beneficial to dogs.
52) The European corn borer is an insect whose larvae eat corn crops, thus reducing the yield of
the crops. Scientists have genetically modified corn in the hopes of making it more resistant to
infestation by the European corn borer. Design an experiment to test whether the genetically
modified variety is more resistant to infestation than an unmodified variety. State your
hypothesis, and identify your experimental group and your control.
53) What is the purpose of the “control” in a controlled experiment?
54) You are a part of the first scientific team to land on Mars. What steps would you take to
determine whether there is any life there? If you found something, how would you know whether
it is a living thing?
55) Explain the difference between a theory and a hypothesis, and give an example of each.
56) Evaluate the statement “Nothing in biology makes sense unless it is studied in the light of
evolution.”
Refer to the figure below, and then answer the question that follows.
57) What was the purpose in breaking off the dust trap or tilting the flask in Pasteur’s
experiment?
Refer to the figure below, and then answer the question that follows.
58) Which level of organization is the most inclusive? Which is the least inclusive?