18 Questions
If a radioactive substance that weighs one kilogram has a half-life of 100 years, what percentage of the substance would be left after 300 years?
12.5%
If a fossil is 17 years old, about what percent of the original carbon-14 present in the fossil would still be detectable?
25%
According to Lamarck's theory of evolution, what is the mechanism by which evolving organisms acquire new structures?
Use-and-disuse of parts of the body
Which line of thinking supports the statement that 'Rats can be produced by keeping rags and grains at the corner of a room'?
Spontaneous generation
What is the specific name of biological scientists who do research that tries to find evidence of life on other planets in the solar system?
Astrobiologists
If a substance that weighs 2000 grams and has a half-life of 100 years is left with only 250 grams, for how long has the radioactive decaying activity been undergoing?
300 years
Why did Louis Pasteur use a swan-necked flask instead of a straight-necked one in his experiment to disprove the theory of spontaneous generation?
To trap particles from the air that might enter the flask before reaching the broth
Which of the following pairs of molecules can provide the most information about the evolutionary relationship between two species?
DNA and proteins
If two species are known to belong to the same order, they must also belong to which taxonomic category?
Family
What type of natural selection is occurring when individuals at both extreme ends of a range have better survival advantages than those around the middle?
Disruptive selection
During which geologic period does the fossil record show the most diverse and relatively higher forms of organisms?
Cretaceous
What is an evolutionary requirement for two subpopulations of a species to evolve into independent species?
Geographic isolation
To which genus does the famous fossil 'Lucy' belong?
Australopithecus
Which of the following is NOT a reason why fossils of soft-bodied organisms are relatively rare?
They were uncommon in their environments
Which of the following ideas was part of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's theory of evolution?
Use and disuse of body parts
If a fossil contains only 12% of the typical amount of carbon-14 found in living organisms, and carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years, how old is the fossil?
17190 years
Which of the following processes is most important for speciation to occur?
Isolation of one gene pool
Which of the following fossils is considered the closest known relative to the common ancestor of humans and apes?
Ardipithecus
Test your knowledge on radioactive decay with these questions involving half-lives of radioactive substances. Calculate the percentage of substance left after a certain number of years and determine the amount of original carbon 14 present in a fossil of a specific age.
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