Scientific Method:
1. State the problem.
2. Gather information related to the problem. Think about it.
3. Form a hypothesis (possible solution, educated guess).
4. Experiment to test your hypothesis. The experiment will yield data that will either prove your
hypothesis to be correct, in which case you have a conclusion. Or the data will show your hypothesis to be incorrect,
in which case you must gather more info, form a new hypothesis, test it by experiment, & so on until you reach a conclusion.
5. State your conclusion.
6. Verification.
Louis Pasteur stated, "chance favors only the mind that is prepared". Review what this means.
Review the work of Sir Alexander Fleming.
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Metrics:
Basic Units: kilogram, meter, liter
Devices: Graduated cylinder, meter stick, balance
Prefixes: Kilo, centi, milli
Know: 1 ml = 1 cc, 1 meter = 39.4 inches
Larger to smaller units: move decimal to the right
Smaller to larger units: move decimal to the left
Review how you know how many places to move the decimal.
Mass - amount of matter in an objective, remains constant.
Weight - measure of the pull of gravity on an object, varies with the strength of the gravitational
pull.
The Compound Light Microscope:
Ocular (eyepiece): 10x
Objectives: scanning - 4x
low power - 10x
high power - 40x
Diaphragm: adjusts the amount of light entering the slide. 2 types: disk & iris.
Revolving nosepiece: with objective attached.
Coarse adjustment knob: large, allows for initial focusing, use only with scanning objective.
Fine adjustment knob: small, allows you to focus for the best possible image.
Stage - platform for slide.
Stage clips - hold the slide in place.
Arm, base, inclination joint.
Review: magnification (apparent enlargement of the specimen), resolution (sharpness of the image),
total magnification, field of view, why stain is added to specimens, & setting up the microscope properly.
Data Tables & Graphing:
Jargon - specialized vocabulary
Data - information
Data Table - way to organize data in columns, neat & readable.
Data Table - should have a title, variables, units, data, & ordered pairs.
Graph - picture of information in a data table. Has the same "parts" as a data table.
Horizontal Axis - goes left to right along the bottom of the graph. Usually has time.
Vertical Axis - runs up & down along the left side of the graph. Has the variable other than
time.
Intersection - the crossing of two lines when graphing.
Data Point - place where two data lines cross or intersect.
Plotting - finding the data point for an ordered pair.
Intervals - an even spacing of the numbers along the axis of a graph.
Review line graph, circle (pie) graph, & multi-line graph.
When drawing a line graph:
use a pencil & a ruler & draw the horizontal axis along the bottom & the vertical axis to
the left leaving room for writing the variable & units, space the intervals evenly, plot your points, connect the points
to draw your line graph, & add your title. Be neat!
Some genetics to consider:
Work of Gregor Mendel - garden peas
Alleles - alternate forms of a gene. Dominant. Recessive.
Phenotype - physical characteristics of an organism. Ex. tall.
Genotype - the genes that are present. Ex. heterozygous tall
Heterozygous - one dominant & one recessive gene. Ex. Tt.
Homozygous - both genes are the same. Ex. TT or tt.
Some human traits are controlled by more than one gene. Ex. skin color.
Punnett Square
Hybrid
Monohybrid Cross
Genetic Engineering: cloning, selective breeding, DNA fingerprinting. Human Genome Project.
Some things to consider concerning evolution:
Evolution - process whereby gradual changes occur in a species over time.
Natural Selection - individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive longer, reproduce more,
& pass on their "good" traits to their offspring.
> Involves overpopulation, variation,
competition.
Adaptation - trait that helps an organism survive & reproduce.
Charles Darwin - Think about his story: "Beagle", naturalist, Galapagos Islands, finches. Evolution
by natural selection.
Fossil Record - "solid" evidence (bones, imprints) of organisms that lived in the distant past. Incomplete
- some fossils still buried, others were destroyed over time.
Extinct - Species without any living members. Ex. T-Rex
Geologic Time Scale: Calendar of Earth's history (we are focusing on living things)
> Earth forms - 4.6 billion years ago (bya)
> 1st. organisms (bacteria-like) in oceans - 3.5 bya
> Algae & fungi - 1 bya
> 1st. animals (jellyfish) - 600 million years ago (mya)
> Sea Animals (snails, clams) - 544 mya
> 1st. vertebrates (fish) - 505 mya
> 1st. land plants (moss) & animals (insects) - 438 mya
> Amphibians & ferns - 408 mya
> Early reptiles - 360 mya
> Seed plants common - 286 mya
> 1st. dinosaurs & reptile-like mammals - 245 mya
> 1st. birds - 208 mya
> 1st. flowering plants - 144 mya
> dinosaurs extinct - 67 mya
> 1st. primates - 66 mya
> 1st. humans - 1.6 mya
Think About Ecology A Bit:
Ecology - study of the relationships between organisms & their environment.
Biotic Factors - organisms. Abiotic Factors - nonliving.
Species - a group of individuals that can mate & give rise to fertile offspring.
Population - Individuals of the same species, living in the same place, at the same time.
Community - All of the populations living in a particular place at a certain time.
Ecosystem - an interacting system consisting of biotic factors & their abiotic environment.
Populations size influenced by: Natality (birth rate), Mortality (death rate), Immigration, &
Emigration.
Limiting Factors (amt. of water, space, food, etc.) limit the size of a population.
Some interactions between organisms - fighting, hunting, escaping, mating, predation, mutualism (both benefit),
commensalism (1 benefits, the other is unaffected), & parasitism (parasite lives on or in a host).
Estimating the size of a population by sampling.
Environmental Science - Chapter 2> Think about:
Food Chain, Food Web: Ecologists study feeding patterns to study energy flow through an ecosystem.
Producer: autotroph, photosynthesis, plant.
Consumer: eater, herbivore, carnivore, omnivore.
Decomposers: Bacteria, recycle, nitrogen-fixing.
Not recycled in the ecosystem: energy (Sun's).
Cycles: Water (short, long), Nitrogen, Oxygen-Carbon.
Succession: series of predictable changes that occur in an ecosytem over time. Ex: pond --->
swamp--->grassland--->forest
Dispersal: movement of organisms from 1 area to another. Helped by water, wind, animals, Continental Drift
(slow motion of blocks of the Earth's crust). Limited by climate, competition, and physical barriers.
Biome: large-scale ecosystem with its characteristic climate & organims. Ex: Mid-latitude Deciduous
Forest, Boreal Forest (Taiga), Tundra, Tropical Rain Forest, Desert.
What is Life?
Characteristics of organisms: cellular, use energy, reproduce, respond to stimuli, grow, develop.
Needs of life: water, space, stable environment, energy.
Unicellular. Multicellular.
Autotrophs - make own food, photosynthesis. Plants.
Heterotrophs - eaters, consumers. Animals.
Abiogenesis: Spontaneous Generation - Life from non-life.
Biogenesis: Life from life.
Work of Redi & Pasteur.
Controlled Experiment: perform 2 tests that are identical in all ways, except for 1 factor called
the variable.
Classification, Viruses, Bacteria, Protists - Think about:
kingdom-phylum-class-order-family-genus-species
Carolus Linnaeus-Binomial System: 2 names
Genus (capitalized) & species
6 kingdoms: Archeobacteria, Eubacteria, Protists, Fungi,
Plant, & Animal
Viruses: non-living: non-cellular, do not use energy, harmful - disease causing (pathogens), need Electron
Microscope (EM) to see them, Lytic Cycle.
Bacteria: unicellular, Prokaryotic (no nucleus), 3 shapes: coccus - round, bacillus - rod, spirillum - spiral,
Harmful: spoil food, cause disease, Helpful: nitrofying bacteria, decomposition - recycling, antibiotics.
Protists: unicellur, Eukaryotic, Flagellates - have flagellum, Euglena, Sarcodinans - have pseudopodes (false
feet), Ameba, Ciliates - have cilia, Paramecium.
