Scientific Inquiry
This term describes a testable explanation for a phenomenon, based on observations and assumptions.
What is a hypothesis?
These are the three subatomic particles that make up an atom.
What are protons, neutrons, and electrons?
This emergent property of water, caused by hydrogen bonding between molecules, creates high surface tension and lets organisms like water striders walk on the surface.
What is cohesion?
his is the number of covalent bonds a single carbon atom can form with other atoms.
What is four?
What is the difference in [H+] in a solution with a pH of 3 compared to a solution with a pH of 7?
What is 104 or 10,000 H+s
In Hoekstra's mouse coat-color experiment, this was the independent variable that researchers manipulated.
What is the environment/habitat (light sand vs. dark soil)?
This term describes two atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons.
What are isotopes?
This term describes the amount of heat that must be absorbed or released for 1 gram of a substance to change its temperature by 1°C.
What is specific heat?
This molecule, made of an adenosine molecule attached to three phosphate groups, is the cell's primary energy currency.
What is ATP (adenosine triphosphate)?
Along with hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, this element makes up 96% of all living matter.
What is carbon?
This type of control uses a highly conspicuous, easy-to-spot model to confirm predators will attack when they can clearly see the target.
What is a positive control?
This type of chemical bond forms when two atoms share a pair of valence electrons.
What is a covalent bond?
When a hydrogen atom transfers from one water molecule to another, the water molecule that gains the extra proton becomes this type of ion, while the one that loses it becomes this other type of ion.
What are hydronium ion (H3O+) and hydroxide ion (OH-)?
This term describes compounds that share the same molecular formula but differ in the arrangement of their atoms.
What are isomers?
In radiometric dating, this is the term for the amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive isotope sample to decay into its daughter isotope.
What is a half-life?
This type of data is expressed as numerical measurements that can be organized into tables and graphs, as opposed to descriptive data.
What is quantitative data?
This term refers to an atom's attraction for the electrons it shares in a covalent bond, and determines whether that bond is polar or nonpolar.
What is electronegativity?
This is the reason ice floats on liquid water instead of sinking.
What is: hydrogen bonds hold water molecules farther apart in a crystal lattice, making ice about 10% less dense than liquid water?
This functional group, written as -OH, is found on molecules like sugars and alcohols.
What is the hydroxyl group?
In the mouse camouflage study, researchers placed plain clay balls of similar size in the habitat and found predators ignored them. This result serves as this type of control, confirming predators were responding specifically to mouse-shaped models rather than any object.
What is a negative control?
Since a hypothesis can never be proven completely true, this is the phrase scientists use instead of "accepting" the null hypothesis when evidence against it is insufficient.
What is "fail to reject the null hypothesis"?
This weak chemical interaction forms when a hydrogen atom, already covalently bonded to one electronegative atom, is also attracted to a second electronegative atom.
What is a hydrogen bond?
When CO2 from fossil fuel combustion dissolves into seawater, it forms this compound, which is the main driver of ocean acidification. It is also a blood pH buffer in many animals.
What is carbonic acid?
This specific type of isomer is a mirror image of another molecule, similar to a left and right hand.
What is an enantiomer?
Name three functional groups that tend to be "acidic."
Carboxyl (carboxylic acids): -COOH
Sulfhydryl (thiols): -SH
Hydroxyl (alcohols): -OH