Intro to Biology: Life and Chemistry

• Exam 1 consists of multiple choice, true-false, and matching questions.

Scientific Study of Life

• Understand all the characteristics of life, including examples of homeostasis.
• Familiarize with the scientific method's steps; identify hypotheses, variables, theories, and control experiments within experiments; distinguish between independent and dependent variables.
• Know the complexity levels in life’s order, progressing from atoms to the ecosystem and then the biosphere.
• Differentiate between a cell, tissue, organ, organ system, and organism, with examples such as a group of cells forming a tissue.

The Chemistry of Life

• Recognize an atom and its components: protons, electrons, and neutrons.
• Know electron roles and orbitals and their influence on an atom's chemical properties.
• Distinguish between atomic number (number of protons or electrons) and atomic weight (number of protons plus neutrons); for instance, an atom with 8 protons, 8 electrons, and 7 neutrons has an atomic number of 8 and an atomic weight of 15.
• Understand ions and isotopes, including radioactive isotopes and their uses in medicine and studying fossils.
• Identify ionic, covalent (polar and nonpolar), and hydrogen bonds, with examples like sodium chloride (ionic).
• Differentiate between polar and nonpolar molecules, noting water's polarity and its hydrophilic nature.
• Differentiate hydrophilic and hydrophobic substances.
• Understand water's unique properties.
• Know the pH scale (acidic, basic, neutral) and buffers, understanding how hydrogen (H+) or hydroxide (OH-) ion concentrations define acidity and alkalinity.
• Differentiate hydrolysis and dehydration reactions.
• Know macromolecules (polymers) and their components (monomers), such as proteins being made o amino acids- amino acids are monomers or subunits of proteins, and the structure of amino acids (the R group varies, the carboxyl and amino group which are always the same in every amino acid)
• Nucleic acids are made of nucleotides; therefore, nucleotides are the subunits of nucleic acid.
• Understand what a peptide bond is.
• Define carbohydrates such as glucose, sucrose, glycogen, starch, cellulose, and chitin and know which ones are energy storage and which ones have a structural role; note chitin and cellulose as structural carbohydrates and their location in cells and organisms.
• Differentiate between saturated and unsaturated fats, and examples of lipids such as phospholipids and steroids.
• Remember the different structures of proteins: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary.
• Difference between DNA and RNA, including their functions, the base pairing rules in DNA (A-T, G-C), and RNA (Uracil replaces Thymine).
• Determine the complementary sequence; for example, the sequence GGAATT is complemented by CCTTAA.

Cell Structure and Function

• Distinguish between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.
• Compare bacteria, plant, and animal cells regarding organelles like the nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplast, cell wall, lysosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosome, cilia, flagella, microtubules, centrioles, and chromosomes.
• Know functions of organelles such as the nucleus, mitochondria, chloroplast, cell wall, lysosomes, Golgi body, endoplasmic reticulum, ribosome, cilia, flagella, cytoskeleton, microtubules, centrioles, and chromosomes.
• The structural and functional differences between rough and smooth endoplasmic reticulum, ribosome function, and why rough ER is named as such.
• Understand cytoplasmic movement (cyclosis).
• The cell membrane consists of a phospholipid bilayer- major component. Cell membranes also have proteins.
• Fluid mosaic model refers to part of the cell structure; know its meaning.
• Know the various functions of proteins in cell membranes.

The Energy of Life

• Understand potential and kinetic energy, noting that sugars or fat molecules possess potential energy.
• Define metabolism.
• Describe the laws of thermodynamics, differentiating between the first and second laws.
• Understand ATP's structure and function.
• How enzymes function regarding activation energy.
• Differences between an enzyme's active site and its substrate.
• Feedback inhibition (competitive and non-competitive inhibition).
• Factors affecting enzyme activity, like pH and temperature.
• Know coenzymes, such as NAD.
• Understand different cellular transport systems: osmosis, diffusion, facilitated diffusion, active transport (e.g., the sodium-potassium pump), endocytosis, exocytosis, pinocytosis, and phagocytosis.
• Isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic environments, and the impact on cells, with examples like red blood cells in water or 10% salt solutions.

Explore life's characteristics and homeostasis. Learn the scientific method's steps, and variables. Discover life's complexity levels, from atoms to the biosphere, and grasp atomic structure, electron behavior, and chemical properties.