Science Study Guides

Chapter 12 Study Guide

1.    Gravitational potential energy depends on weight and height.
2.    Nuclear energy is not a renewable resource.
3.    All of the following are conversions from chemical energy to thermal energy:  Food is digested and used to regulate body temperature, charcoal is burned in a barbecue pit, and coal is burned to boil water.
4.    Machines can transfer and convert energy.
5.    In every energy conversion, some energy is always converted into thermal energy.
6.    An object that has kinetic energy must be in motion.
7.    Firewood is not a fossil fuel.
8.    Suppose you have just lifted a 50 N bowling ball 2 m above the floor.  You have performed work equal to 100 J to lift the ball.
9.    The kinetic energy of an object can be found if the object’s weight and height are known.
10.    Suppose you are jumping on a trampoline.  At the top of your jump, your potential energy is at a maximum.
11.    When one object does work on another, energy is transferred.
12.     Because work and energy are so closely related, they are both expressed in Joules.
13.    Potential energy is stored in a stretched rubber band.
14.    The gravitational potential energy of a 540 N diver standing on a platform 3 m high is 1620 J.
15.    At what point does a roller coaster have the greatest potential energy? At the top of the biggest hill
16.    Our most important energy resource is the sun.
17.    Fossil fuels originally received their energy from the sun.
18.    Fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants use steam to turn a turbine that rotates the generator.
19.    When you turn on a light-bulb, you convert electrical energy into light energy and thermal energy.
20.    The chemical energy in sugars and starches of food fuels all your body functions and movements, and provides the thermal energy that keeps your body temperature constant.
21.    Geothermal energy is considered a renewable resource.
22.    Petroleum and natural gas are examples of fossil fuels.
23.    Energy is the ability to do work.
24.    What is an energy conversion?   An energy conversion is a change from one form of energy into another.
25.    Describe an example in which electrical energy is converted into thermal energy.  (see notes or book) Examples:  Iron or a light bulb, electrical is converted into thermal energy
26.    Given an example of a machine that is an energy converter, and explain how the machine converts one form of energy into another. (see chart on pg. 341)
27.    Give three specific examples of energy conversions.  (see pg. 339)

Chapter 4 Study Guide:

Vocabulary:

Pollution
Renewable resource
Nonrenewable resource
Overpopulation
Biodiversity
Biodegradable
Conservation
Recycling
Resource recovery

Multiple Choice:

1.    Habitat is important because organisms do not live independently, protecting habitats is a way to protect species, and without it the balance of nature could be disrupted.
2.    The Earth’s resources can be conserved by reducing the use of nonrenewable resources.
3.    Endangered species can sometimes be brought back from near extinction.
4.    Global warming is a danger to organisms all over the planet.
5.    Overpopulation occurs when a species cannot get all the food, water, and other resources it needs.
6.    Biodiversity helps to keep ecosystems stable.
7.    CFCs are believed to be most responsible for ozone depletion in the atmosphere.
8.    A tropical rain forest is likely to be the most diverse.
9.    Bicycling instead of driving a car would most help reduce air pollution.

Short Answer:

1.    Describe how you can conserve resources.  Sample answer (answers will vary):  I can ride a bicycle, recycle cans and bottles, wear secondhand clothing, and use rechargeable batteries.
2.    a.  What is an alien species?  An alien species is any organism that has moved or has been carried from its native habitat to live in a new location.
b.  Why are alien species considered a problem?  Because their new habitats are usually free from natural predators, populations of alien species sometimes grow out of control.  These new species can become major pests and can crowd out native species.
3.    Be able to list three types of pollution and the source for each (the source is the reason behind the pollution)
Chapter 3 Study Guide:

Vocabulary:

Speciation
Adaptation
Species
Fossil
Selective breeding
Natural selection
Fossil record

Multiple Choice:

1. A cat’s front leg, a dolphin’s front flipper, and a bat’s wing have similar kinds of bones.
2. Physical evidence of a living thing, such as its remains, is a fossil.
3. Organisms that are best adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This principle is call natural selection.
4. The fossil record organizes fossils by their estimated ages.
5. The deeper in the Earth’s crust fossils are found, the less they tend to look like present-day organisms.
6. After the 1850s, dark peppered moths became more common in certain areas because smoke from factories blackened tree trunks.
7. Sometimes bacteria are not killed by an antibiotic because they are naturally resistant to it.

Short Answer:

1. Why are there gaps in the fossil record? The conditions for fossil formation are rare. Animals without shells or bones must be covered in sediment in the absence of oxygen
2. What is the name of characteristics that can be passed from one generation to the next? Inherited characteristics
3. What are periods of large-scale extinctions? Mass extinctions
4. How does being bright red help the strawberry dart-poison frog survive?
The frog’s coloring warns predators that the frog is poisonous. This may prevent animals from eating it.

Critical Thinking:

Geologists have evidence that the continents were once unite in one large landform called Pangea. The individual continents moved to their current positions when this giant landform split apart. What role might this drifting of continents have played in forming a new species?
As the continents drifted apart, species members would have become separated, and they would have to adapt to a different environment. The species would likely have become different due to new adaptations to their different environment.

Ordering:

Be able to put the following steps of speciation in order:

1. The populations become separated.
2. The populations have different environments.
3. The populations adapt to their environment.
4. The populations become so different that they can no longer mate.
5. The populations are no longer the same species.
Chapter 2 Study Guide:

Vocabulary: (use your vocabulary definitions in your binder)
Biotic
Abiotic
Population
Ecosystem
Producers
Food web
Niche
Habitat
Community
Decomposers
Ecology
Biosphere
Predator
Scavenger
Coevolution
Parasitism
Competition
Mutualism

Multiple Choice:

• The plants a ladybug lives on, the aphids that the ladybug eats, and the birds that would eat the ladybug are all biotic parts of the environment.
• An organism’s habitat is defined as the environment in which it lives.
• Herbivores, carnivores, and scavengers are all consumers.
• Animals that eat a variety of meats, fruits, and vegetables are omnivores.
• A niche includes the organism’s habitat, nonliving factors, such as temperature, and is the organism’s role in the environment.
• Competition, predator and prey, and coevolution are all ways in which species and individuals affect one another.
• A tick sucks blood from a dog. In this relationship, the tick is the parasite, and the dog is the host.
• Resources such as water, food, or sunlight are more likely to be limiting factors when a population is approaching the carrying capacity.
• “Nature’s recyclers” are decomposers.
• How energy moves through an ecosystem can be represented by food chains, energy pyramids, and food webs.
• The base of an energy pyramid represents producers in an ecosystem.
• The following is the correct order in a food chain:
Sun → producers → herbivores → carnivores → scavengers
• Remoras and sharks have a relationship best described as commensalisms.

Short Answer:

• What might different species of trees in a forest compete for?
Trees might compete for sunlight, water, or space.

• What is coevolution?
Coevolution is a long-term change that takes place in two species because of their close interactions with one another.

• Explain the difference between a food web and a food chain.
A food chain shows one way energy can flow from one organism to the next. Because simple food chains rarely occur in nature, food webs are often used. Food webs show many different ways energy can flow between organisms.

• Certain ants take a sweet liquid called honeydew from tiny insects called aphids. In exchange for the honeydew, the ants protect the aphids from predators. What kind of relationship is this? Explain you answer.
This relationship is an example of mutualism, a type of symbiosis in which both organisms benefit. In this case, the aphids make honeydew for the ants, and the ants protect the aphids.

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving:

• A friend of yours starts a compost pile in her backyard in order to turn yard scraps into soil for plants. Over time, she notices that the compost pile has fungi growing on it. She is concerned that the fungi will harm the new soil she is making. Do you think she should be concerned?
No. The fungi will help her make soil for plants. Fungi help to decompose dead organisms by breaking them down into simpler materials. The materials can then be reused by other plants.
Chapter 1 – Study Guide: Name____________________________

1. If the results don’t support a hypothesis, then scientists may repeat their investigations and check for mistakes, ask new questions, or form a new hypothesis.
2. An environmental scientist studies how humans interact with their environment.
3. The basic SI unit for mass is kilogram.
4. Scientists communicate the results of an investigation in order to share information.
5. A scientific law is a summary of many experimental results and observations.
6. An example of a physical model is a map.
7. Models have limitations.
8. The law of universal gravitation does not explain why there is an attraction.
9. Two advantages of using the SI system of measurement are:
1) It helps all scientists share and compare their observations and results.
2) All units are based on the number 10.
10. People should recycle for these reasons:
1) People can save trees.
2) Recycling helps protect forests and save the homes of many animals.
3) Recycling saves fuel and chemicals used to make paper from trees.
11. Vocabulary – (for definitions, see vocabulary section of notebook)
1) theory
2) model
3) science
4) cartography
5) observation
6) hypothesis
7) area
volume
9) theory
10) law
12. Scientists use models to represent things that are too small or too large to see, to test designs, to explain the past, and to predict future events.
13. Explain what each of the following tools is used to measure:
1) A balance measures mass.
2) A thermometer measures temperature.
3) A stopwatch measures time.
4) A spring scale measures force.
5) A graduated cylinder measures volume.
14. The three types of models are: physical, mathematical, and conceptual.