Work this · PDF open beside you
01 Study guide
You are responsible for the information provided in the textbook and the lectures. This list is just to help you put things together. It is not meant to be your only source of study. Figures, tables, bolded textbook words, and the questions in the presentations can be on the exam. Research methods matter even if they are not discussed in class. Bring questions if you did not understand.
Dr. Kopp · 01 Study guides
How to use this: open the Chapter 1 or Chapter 2 lecture PDF. Cover the slide. Write your answer. Then tap Check after you try. A few 01-list items are not on these two PDFs; those checks say so. Then open the matching PRACTICE quiz.
Chapter 1 PDF: nature of science. Chapter 2 PDF: chemistry of the cell, water, pH, carbon. Macromolecules still needs its own study guide when that file is in.
Sitting 1 · Chapter 1 PDF
Lecture outcomes: steps of the scientific method, model a scenario, theory vs everyday “theory,” parts of a scientific name. Cell theory and the three groups of organisms are on this PDF too.
- Theory vs hypothesis. Compare them. Which one is broader and already backed by a wide body of evidence?
Check after you try
Theory: an explanation for a very general class of phenomena or observations that are supported by a wide body of evidence. Hypothesis: a suggested explanation for an event, which one can test. More specific than a theory. Theory is the broader one.
- Write cell theory in one sentence.
Check after you try
All organisms are made of cells and all cells come from pre-existing cells.
- Name the three fundamental groups of organisms.
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Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. On the tree of life, Bacteria and Archaea are prokaryotes; Eukarya are eukaryotes.
- A mystery eukaryote has a chitin cell wall and does not photosynthesize. Which kingdom?
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Fungi. Cell walls made of chitin. No photosynthesis.
- One that is photosynthetic with a cellulose cell wall?
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Plantae. Most of them photosynthetic, cell wall (cellulose).
- One with no cell wall and no photosynthesis?
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Animalia: no cell walls, no photosynthesis.
- Sushi algae is in which group?
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Protista. The algae of your sushi is a protist. (Some protists have cell walls, some photosynthesize, some are single-celled.)
- What do Bacteria, Protista, fungi, plants, and animals all have for genetic material and for making protein?
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DNA as the genetic material, and ribosomes for protein production. Lecture: prokaryotes and eukaryotes both have these; DNA sits in the nucleoid (Bacteria) or the nucleus (the eukaryotic groups).
- Prokaryote vs eukaryote: nuclear membrane, membrane-bound organelles, where the DNA sits (nucleoid vs nucleus).
Check after you try
Prokaryote (pro = before, karyon = nucleus): no nuclear membrane, no organelles, DNA in a region called the nucleoid, have a cell wall. Eukaryote (eu = true): true nucleus, membrane-bound organelles, DNA in a region called the nucleus, some have a cell wall. Both have ribosomes; some of each photosynthesize.
- Write Apis mellifera correctly. What does each word tell you? Why Latin names?
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Apis mellifera — genus Apis, species mellifera. Same genus, different species: Apis bombax. Scientific (Latin) names are often descriptive (Saccharomyces cerevisiae = “sugar-fungus for beer”). Why Latin names are unique or universal is not stated on this lecture PDF; Kopp still lists it on the 01 guide.
- From the study guide: scientific inquiry. Then design a tiny experiment (question, independent, dependent, control, at least several replicates of each treatment).
Check after you try
Scientific method on the lecture: make an observation → ask a question → form a hypothesis → make a prediction → do an experiment → analyze results → report results (or try again with a new hypothesis). Giraffe model: observation = long necks; question = why; hypothesis = they reach vegetation other animals can’t; testing = feeding behavior and feeding height.
Check your own design against the Paxlovid model: a measurable question (effect on Covid-19 symptoms); independent variable you change (0 / 100 mg / 200 mg); dependent variable you measure (symptoms); a control (placebo pill); several replicates of each treatment (100 people each); keep conditions as constant as possible.
- Identify in a scenario: hypothesis, control, experimental treatments, independent variable, dependent variable.
Check after you try
Lecture’s filled example (OatsRX): hypothesis = OatsRX lowers cholesterol; null = it does not lower cholesterol more than the placebo; independent variable = the medication (OatsRX or placebo); dependent variable = cholesterol levels of the patients. Paxlovid: control = placebo; treatments = 100 mg and 200 mg; independent = Paxlovid dose; dependent = Covid-19 symptoms.
- What is biological variation, and why control it? What does replication mean? What is a placebo? What does “controlled conditions” mean? What is accuracy, and how do you improve it?
Check after you try
On this PDF: replication = repeating the test is essential (Paxlovid uses 100 people in each group). Placebo = the inactive pill in the control group. Controlled conditions = experimental conditions must be kept as constant as possible. Biological variation, and accuracy / how to improve it, are not defined on this lecture PDF; Kopp still lists them on the 01 guide.
- Read a graph from the lecture and write one conclusion. Read a phylogenetic tree and write one conclusion.
Check after you try
Plant-height graph: by 7–9 weeks, pond water + compost plants were clearly taller than control or pond water alone. Crocodile graph (home practice): incubation temperature changes percent males in Alligator mississippiensis and Crocodylus palustris (temperature-dependent sex determination).
Phylogenetic tree: among the animals shown, humans share the most recent common ancestor with chimps. Tree of life: three fundamental groups are Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
- Finish this Kopp line: Evolution by natural selection results in ______. The unifying theme in biology is ______.
Check after you try
Not on this lecture PDF; Kopp still lists it on the 01 guide.
Then: 02-PRACTICE-Introduction-I and 02-CYU-Experimental design if not already done.
Sitting 2 · Chapter 2 PDF · atoms and bonds
Lecture outcomes: define key chemistry terms, apply electrons to bonds, contrast bond types. Helium on the lecture slide is the worked example (atomic number 2, mass 4.003).
- Define atom, proton, neutron, electron, atomic number, mass number, atomic weight, element, compound.
Check after you try
From the slides: protons are +, neutrons are neutral, electrons are −. Nucleus = protons + neutrons; electrons sit on shells. Helium worked example: atomic number 2, chemical symbol He, mass number labeled 4.003. Periodic-table key: top number = relative atomic mass, bottom = atomic (proton) number. Molecular weight = sum of the atomic weights of all atoms in the molecule. Molecule = substances held together by covalent bonds. Four most common elements shown: H, C, N, O.
One-line definitions of atom, element, and compound are not written out on this lecture PDF; Kopp still lists them on the 01 guide.
- If there are 6 protons, what element is it? In a neutral atom, protons equal ______.
Check after you try
Carbon (atomic / proton number 6). Neutral check: the He diagram has 2 protons and 2 electrons; carbon’s shell diagram has 6 electrons to match proton number 6. The PDF does not print the sentence “in a neutral atom, protons equal electrons.”
- An orbital holds how many electrons? First shell: how many orbitals? Second shell?
Check after you try
Orbitals by name are not on this lecture PDF; Kopp still lists them on the 01 guide. What is drawn: shells. First shell holds 2 electrons (He; inner shell of C, N, O). Second shell is drawn filling toward 8 (C has 4 outer electrons, N has 5, O has 6).
- What does the outer shell tell you about reactivity?
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The number of unpaired electrons in the valence (outer) shell is the atom’s valence. Atoms are most stable when their valence shells are full — unpaired outer electrons are what get shared or transferred in bonds.
- Draw electron shells for helium, then for carbon. Predict how many covalent bonds carbon will make.
Check after you try
Helium: 2 protons + 2 neutrons in the nucleus, 2 electrons on the first shell (full). Carbon: 2 electrons on the first shell, 4 unpaired electrons on the second. Carbon’s valence is 4, so it makes 4 covalent bonds.
- Fill a table: ionic vs polar covalent vs nonpolar covalent vs hydrogen. Strong or weak. One example each (the lecture uses sodium iodide and water/DNA).
Check after you try
- Nonpolar covalent: electrons shared equally. Strong. H–H or O=O (hydrocarbons / methane on the bond table).
- Polar covalent: electrons shared unequally (δ− / δ+). Strong. Water (O pulls harder than H).
- Ionic: electrons completely transferred. Strong. Sodium iodide / sodium chloride.
- Hydrogen: partial negative charge attracts H. Weak. Water, DNA.
- Cation vs anion. Reactants vs products.
Check after you try
Cation = positive ion (Na+ after sodium loses its outer electron). Anion = negative ion (Cl− after chlorine gains that electron). Reactants go in; products come out. Lecture: unidirectional pyruvate → acetyl-CoA; reversible respiration / photosynthesis (glucose + O2 ⇌ CO2 + H2O + ATP).
- What is electronegativity? Why does Kopp say we breathe, in one sentence (oxygen, electrons, water as waste)?
Check after you try
Electronegativity: some atoms hold the electrons in covalent bonds much more tightly than other atoms. On the slide, electronegativity increases H ≈ C < N < O (toward F).
Why we breathe (oxygen, electrons, water as waste) is not on this lecture PDF; Kopp still lists it on the 01 guide. Closest slide: respiration uses O2 and makes H2O + ATP.
- What is an isotope?
Check after you try
Not on this lecture PDF; Kopp still lists it on the 01 guide.
Then: 02-PRACTICE-Chemistry-I.
Sitting 3 · Chapter 2 PDF · water and pH
Formulas from the lecture: pH = −log [H+]. [H+] = 10−pH. Neutral is 7. Acidic < 7. Basic > 7. Blood is 7.35–7.45.
- Bonds inside one water molecule vs bonds between water molecules.
Check after you try
Inside one water: polar covalent bonds. Between different water molecules: hydrogen bonds (weak; partial + on H, partial − on O).
- Cohesion vs adhesion vs surface tension. One real example each.
Check after you try
Cohesion: attraction between like molecules (water to water). Adhesion: water adheres to surfaces that have polar or charged components (glass in the cylinder / beaker photo). Surface tension: no water molecules above the top layer, so stronger attraction between neighbors (needle / compass sitting on water).
- Solvent, solute, solution. What does aqueous mean?
Check after you try
Lecture photos: solvent = the liquid (water); solute = what you add; solution = the mix. Water forms a hydration shell around Na+ and Cl−. Aqueous = water-based: life arose in an aqueous environment; acids and bases are defined in aqueous solutions.
- Hydrophilic vs hydrophobic. Why ice floats (liquid vs ice hydrogen bonding).
Check after you try
Hydrophilic = water loving: charged or polar molecules dissolve by hydrogen-bonding (hydration shell). Hydrophobic = water fearing: do not dissolve; they interact with other hydrophobic molecules. Ice floats because hydrogen bonds lock into a lattice, so ice is less dense than freely flowing liquid water.
- How does water’s heat capacity moderate Earth’s temperature?
Check after you try
An extraordinarily large amount of energy is needed to change water’s temperature. The high heat capacity of water helps moderate the climate on Earth. Specific heat: water 4.18 vs benzene 1.74 (no hydrogen bonding).
- Work these lecture problems, then open the check:
- What is [H+] at pH 3?
- What is [OH−] at pH 3?
- What about pH 9?
- Compare pH 2 with pH 6. How many times more H+? How many times less OH−?
Check after you try
[H+] at pH 3 is 10−3. [OH−] at pH 3 is 10−11 (because [H+][OH−] = 10−14). At pH 9, [H+] is 10−9 and [OH−] is 10−5. pH 2 has 10,000 times more H+ than pH 6, and 10,000 times less OH−. Each pH step is ×10.
- What is a buffer? Why blood pH cannot swing. Respiratory acidosis vs alkalosis in one line each (lecture: CO2 up, pH down).
Check after you try
Buffers protect against damaging pH change and keep an organism’s internal solutions near neutral. Blood must stay 7.35–7.45. Respiratory acidosis: CO2 up → pH down (below 7.35; hypoventilation / lack of oxygen). Respiratory alkalosis: hyperventilation, low CO2, pH above 7.45.
Then: 02-Practice: Water and Carbon.
Sitting 4 · Chapter 2 PDF · carbon
End of the chemistry lecture: carbon’s bonds, hydrocarbons vs carbohydrates, isomers, functional groups. Identify from a structure. You do not have to draw them from scratch.
- Why carbon? What about its outer electrons lets it build large molecules?
Check after you try
Carbon has 4 unpaired outer electrons (valence 4), so it forms 4 covalent bonds and can build large, complex organic molecules (oxytocin on the slide). Atoms are most stable when valence shells are full. Organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen — not CO, CO2, carbonates, or cyanides.
- Hydrocarbon vs carbohydrate. One example each. How do you tell them apart on a structure?
Check after you try
Hydrocarbon: carbon and hydrogen only. Lecture example: methane. Carbohydrate: sugars. Lecture examples: glucose, fructose, galactose, ribose, deoxyribose. Tell them apart: hydrocarbons are C–H frames; carbohydrates are ring sugars loaded with hydroxyl (–OH) groups.
- Structural isomer vs geometric isomer vs enantiomer. Why shape is function.
Check after you try
Those three isomer names are not on this lecture PDF; Kopp still lists them on the 01 guide. What is on the PDF: the size and shape of the carbon framework matter, and functional groups determine chemical behavior (cholesterol vs testosterone vs estradiol share a steroid frame but act differently).
- Functional groups to know from the lecture: amino, carboxyl, carbonyl (ketone vs aldehyde), hydroxyl, phosphate, sulfhydryl. For each: property, and one place it shows up (amino acids, ATP, ethanol, disulfide bonds).
Check after you try
- Amino: attracts a proton; acts as a base. Amino acids.
- Carboxyl: drops a proton; acts as an acid. Amino acids.
- Carbonyl (ketone): C=O inside the chain (R–C–R). Site that links molecules into larger compounds. Fructose.
- Carbonyl (aldehyde): C=O at the end (R–C–H). Glucose.
- Hydroxyl: weak acid; hydrogen-bonds, more soluble in water. Ethanol.
- Phosphate: two negative charges; phosphates bonded together store chemical energy. ATP.
- Sulfhydryl: links to another sulfhydryl by a disulfide bond (S–S). Protein structure.
- New organic compound, lecture’s three steps: size/shape of the carbon frame, types of covalent bonds / polarity, then locate functional groups.
Check after you try
1. Examine the overall size and shape provided by the carbon framework. 2. Identify the types of covalent bonds from the electronegativities of the atoms → estimate polarity. 3. Locate functional groups and note the properties they give the molecule.
Then: 02-PRACTICE-Carbon-I. After that, wait for the macromolecules study guide for sittings 5–6.
Not this unit’s test
Kopp: hierarchical levels (atom through biosphere) and the full properties of life are high-school background. The deep prokaryote/eukaryote organelle story is the cell-structure test. Cell theory, kingdoms, DNA, and ribosomes still belong here because they are on the 01 list and the Chapter 1 PDF.