u2_essays

Unit 2 Essay Test: Answer any 2 of the following 4 questions.

1. A forest fire can grow, uses energy, move, and eventually die. Why, then, can’t it be classified as alive?

-listing other requirements (cells, DNA, water, reproduce, life span) (+4)

-saying that an organism has to have all of them, not just a few (+1)

2. Describe the Miller’s experiment and explain how it relates to the possible origins of life

-sterilized the inside of the container so that no ‘contaminants’

-put in things thought to be in primitive Earth (rocks, CO2, H2O, S, N, etc.)

-no oxygen

-heat, electricity, UV light

-yielded CHO (organic) compound

-couldn’t put in time

-maybe CHO could have combined to amino acids, proteins, cells

3..According to Darwin, how might the process of evolution occur?

-evolution takes long periods of time

-Natural selection is the mechanism

-in a species are variations, some of which are advantageous (adaptations)

-they will survive and pass those traits to their offspring

-change in environment leads to evolution (+1)

4. Discuss the geologic and biological history of the Earth.

-Earth is about 4.6 billion years old… that’s really, really old.

-species formed gradually

-from simple to complex

-Eras: Precambrian (longest), Paleozoic, Mesozoic, Cenozoic

-mammals and humans are very “recent” (close to the ‘now’ end)

-hard for humans to understand periods of time necessary for evolution, etc