Free Response Slide 2 / 82 1 Complex molecules are crucial for - PDF document

Slide 1 / 82 Free Response Slide 2 / 82 1 Complex molecules are crucial for life processes. How these molecules came to be on Earth is subject to ongoing speculation and research. Below are several fabricated or real pieces of evidence that may or may not support certain hypotheses regarding the creation of complex molecules on early Earth. Place each piece of evidence in the correct column in the table below. State whether the evidence is real or fabricated. Provide a justification for your decision based on current scientific thinking. Evidence (fabricated or real) A The Earth was 30 million miles more distant from the sun in the early solar system. B The early atmosphere was oxygen rich. C Complex organic molecules have been discovered in meteorites on the Earth. D The early atmosphere contained simple molecules such as methane, carbon dioxide, ammonia and water. Slide 3 / 82 Supports creation of Does not support complex molecules on creation of complex early Earth molecules on early Earth Evidence Evidence Justification Justification Evidence Evidence Justification Justification Evidence Evidence Justification Justification

Slide 4 / 82 2 The following diagram shows the Miller-Urey experimental setup. A Why did they select the gases shown in the air mixture? B Describe the conclusion that the results of the experiment support? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Miller-Urey_experiment-en.svg/500px-Miller-Urey_experiment-en.svg.png Slide 5 / 82 3 Hydrolysis, or the addition of water in between monomers, breaks up large molecules. Dehydration synthesis is the reverse chemical reaction. With reference to the diagram in question 2, would you expect to find large molecules (many linked monomers) in A the cooled water section of the apparatus? Explain. Do you think it is possible to create a cell under the physical and chemical conditions used in the Miller-Urey B experiment? Explain. With reference to the diagram in question 2, how can you C reduce the possibility of hydrolysis occurring in the experiment? Slide 6 / 82 4 Stromatolites (pictured below) are sedimentary rock that formed from layers of ancient bacteria, such as blue-green algae, and trapped sediments over many generations (millions to billions of years). Stromatolites are a microscopic version of the fossilization process that formed the fossils of the dinosaurs and other macroscopic organisms. Stromatolites are still forming and growing in places like Shark Bay, Australia. If a scientist claims that life arose 6,000 years ago, 1 million years ago, or 100 million years ago, how can you A use the geological and biological evidence shown below (stromatolites of Shark Bay, Australia) to evaluate or analyze that statement or hypothesis?

Slide 7 / 82 5 A diagram depicting the alkaline hydrothermal vents hypothesis for origin of life on Earth is shown below. A Use the diagram to describe the hydrothermal vents hypothesis. Why is the hydrothermal vents hypothesis more supported B by evidence that the “water soup” suggested by the Miller- Urey experiment? Sousa FL, Thiergart et. al. . 2013 Early bioenergetic evolution. Phil Trans R Soc B 368: 20130088 Slide 8 / 82 New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning Progressive Science Initiative This material is made freely available at www.njctl.org and is intended for the non-commercial use of students and teachers. These materials may not be used for any commercial purpose without the written permission of the owners. NJCTL maintains its website for the convenience of teachers who wish to make their work available to other teachers, participate in a virtual professional learning community, and/or provide access to course materials to parents, students and others. Click to go to website: www.njctl.org Slide 9 / 82 Emergence of Organic Molecules Practice Questions www.njctl.org

Slide 10 / 82 1 Briefly explain the biochemical experiment performed by Miller-Urey and its significance to the origin of living organisms. Slide 11 / 82 2 The Earth is believed to be 4.5 billion years old. What evidence do scientists use to make this statement? Slide 12 / 82 3 You are probably most familiar with the name Hubble from the Hubble telescope launched by NASA in 1990. What evidence did Edwin Hubble use to help support the Big Bang theory?

Slide 13 / 82 Article Review: “Universe as an Infant: Fatter Than Expected and Kind of Lumpy” by Dennis Overbye http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/science/spac e/planck-satellite-shows-image-of-infant- universe.html?ref=space (note: the NY Times website may ask you to create an account to access the article) Slide 14 / 82 4 Where do scientist believe all the natural elements that make up the Earth originally came from? Slide 15 / 82 5 Scientists have come up with the acronym LUCA. What do the letters stand for? Briefly describe the basis for this hypothesis.

Slide 16 / 82 6 Discuss the uniqueness of the chemical and physical properties of the water molecules, and the significance of these properties to life on Earth. Slide 17 / 82 7 What sequence of events would occur in a lake as winter progresses, if solid water were more dense the liquid water, as is the case with most molecules? Slide 18 / 82 8 Describe the two parts that make up a solution.

Slide 19 / 82 9 Living organisms use buffers to help maintain a steady pH in their internal environment. Human blood has buffers. The buffer contains a large reservoir of an acid and a base. When something is added to the blood the buffer will either bind with excess hydroxide ions or excess hydrogen ions keeping them from affecting the overall pH. This helps maintain the needed blood pH at about 7.4. Describe the buffering system that is used in human blood. Slide 20 / 82 10 What is the significance of the heat map image of the early cosmos? Slide 21 / 82 11 What do you think the scientist mean by the statement: “the universe appears to be slightly lumpier”?

Slide 22 / 82 12 It seems every time we read an article scientist are always correcting old theories. Why should we bother to believe any of them, if they are going to change in the future? Slide 23 / 82 13 What is the significance of the hot spots in the microwaves? Slide 24 / 82 14 What do the scientists mean by the “dark matter”?

Slide 25 / 82 15 When examining the water molecule and its polarity, where is the slightly positive charge located, and where is the slightly negative charge located? Slide 26 / 82 16 If you drop your drink on the floor during dinner, and place a paper towel over the spilled drink to clean it up, what process is occurring as you witness the paper towel pick up the drink? Slide 27 / 82 17 Would you expect more temperature and weather fluctuations to occur in Oklahoma or New Jersey? Explain.

Slide 28 / 82 18 Starches are called complex carbohydrates when speaking in terms of nutrition. What kind of reaction must occur to break it down in to smaller components? Describe the reaction in detail. Slide 29 / 82 19 Metabolism involves the building and breaking down of molecules in you body. Using molecular models, sketch two monosaccharides being joined together by dehydration synthesis. Be sure and circle where the H and OH came from on the monosaccharide. Slide 30 / 82 20 If you had a polymer 15 monomers long how many water molecules would be needed to break the molecule down completely? Include a drawing and use arrows to indicate the point of breakage.

Slide 31 / 82 21 What evidence exists that supports the “organic monomers from space” theory? Slide 32 / 82 22 From Stanley Miller’s experiment to create organic monomers from reactions, what 4 conditions had to be present on primitive earth to allow this to happen? Slide 33 / 82 23 Polysaccharides can be use for storage and structure. Describe a plant and animal storage and structural polysaccharide.

Slide 34 / 82 24 Sugar is a general term used in our world today. What is the biological definition of a sugar? Explain the difference between monosaccharide and disaccharides. Slide 35 / 82 25 Salad is excellent roughage for our digestive system. Although most people love the taste, this biological molecule is indigestible by the humans. Cows on the other hand are herbivores whose entire diet tends to be grass. What kind of biological molecule found in plants can’t we digest? How are cows able to digest grass? Slide 36 / 82 26 Write the equations used to make the 3 disaccharides sucrose, maltose and lactose.

Slide 37 / 82 27 If human DNA were stretch out, it would be over 6 feet long (2 meters) and is made of over 3 billion base pairs. Although these facts seem daunting, if you look closely you will see that each base pair is part of a small repeating unit called a nucleotide. Describe a nucleotide and sketch for of them, each contains one of the bases found in DNA. Slide 38 / 82 28 Compare and contrast DNA and RNA. Please include as much detail as possible in your answer. Slide 39 / 82 29 Below is one stand of a DNA molecule. How did Chargaff findings contribute to what we know about base parings? Also sketch both sides of the molecules. 5’ ATTGCAG 3’