Cellular Respiration
What organelle is the main site of cellular respiration in eukaryotic cells?
Mitochondria
What are the two main reactants used by producers in photosynthesis?
Carbon dioxide and water.
What three major rock types are included in the rock cycle?
Igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic.
What is the term for Earth’s large, moving outer pieces that fit together like a puzzle?
Tectonic plates
Define weathering in one sentence.
Breaking down of rocks by physical or chemical processes.
What two reactants are required for aerobic cellular respiration?
Glucose (sugar) and oxygen.
Where in the cell does photosynthesis mainly occur?
Chloroplasts
What process turns sediments into sedimentary rock?
Compaction and cementation.
Name one type of plate boundary and a landform or event it commonly produces.
Convergent (toward each other) → mountains or subduction zones; divergent (apart) → mid-ocean ridges; transform (slide past) → earthquakes.
Give two agents of erosion and one way each agent changes the landscape.
Water (rivers carve valleys, create deltas), wind (transport sand to form dunes).
Name the two main places (cell structures) where the stages of cellular respiration occur.
Cytoplasm (glycolysis) and mitochondria (Krebs cycle and electron transport).
Explain one way photosynthesis and cellular respiration form a cycle between organisms and the environment (use reactants/products).
Photosynthesis produces glucose and oxygen used by organisms in respiration; respiration produces CO2 and H2O used by producers — forming a cycle.
Compare intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks in cooling rate and crystal size.
Intrusive: slow cooling, large crystals. Extrusive: fast cooling, small/fine crystals.
Explain how sea-floor spreading creates mid-ocean ridges and how age of ocean floor varies with distance from the ridge.
Magma rises at ridges, forms new rock; youngest rock near ridge, older toward trenches.
Explain why rocks in cold climates often experience more physical weathering than rocks in warm, wet climates.
Freezing and thawing cause ice expansion in cracks (physical frost action) — frequent cycles in cold climates increase physical weathering.
Write the balanced chemical equation for cellular respiration using molecule names (sugar/glucose, oxygen, carbon dioxide, water) in the correct positions (reactants → products).
Glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water + energy
A tree gains mass as it grows. From what source(s) does most of the tree’s mass come?
Mostly from carbon in CO2 (gas) fixed into organic molecules by photosynthesis; evidence: matter cycling and mass gained from CO2 uptake.
Describe how metamorphic rock forms without melting and name one condition that causes metamorphism.
By heat and pressure (or contact with hot fluids) over long times without melting; conditions: high temperature and/or pressure deep in crust.
Use evidence (fossils, matching rock types, continental shapes) to state one reason scientists support the idea of past plate motion (continental drift).
Matching fossils across continents, matching rock layers/ages, and complementary continental coastlines (e.g., Africa & South America).
A beach loses sand at 2 m³ per hour. If the beach started with b cubic meters, write an expression for the sand remaining after h hours. Then calculate the remaining sand after 24 hours if b = 1278 m³
Expression: c = b − 2h. After 24 h with b = 1278: c = 1278 − 2(24) = 1278 − 48 = 1230 m³.
Explain how the structure of the inner mitochondrial membrane (folds) relates to the cell’s ability to release energy during respiration.
Folds (cristae) increase surface area for reactions, allowing more ATP production.
Using conservation of matter, explain how counting atoms in the reactants and products of photosynthesis or respiration supports the law of conservation of matter.
The number of each atom type is the same on both sides of the equation — matter is conserved
Draw a short sequence (3–4 steps) explaining how limestone can become marble, and how limestone can become sedimentary rock (use processes names only: e.g., burial, heat & pressure, weathering, compaction).
Example sequence: burial → heat & pressure → marble (metamorphism); weathering/erosion → sediment → compaction & cementation → sedimentary rock.
Predict what will happen to the Atlantic Ocean and the positions of South America and Africa if current plate motions continue. Give a short evidence-based claim.
If Atlantic plates continue to move apart, the Atlantic will widen; South America and Africa will move farther apart — evidence: current motion at mid-Atlantic ridge and GPS data.
Describe how human activities can increase soil erosion and name two practices that reduce erosion and protect soil.
Examples: Deforestation and overgrazing increase erosion; practices to reduce erosion: crop rotation, contour plowing, planting cover crops, reforestation.