Chemistry of Life
This is the smallest unit of matter that still retains the properties of an element.
What is an atom?
All life is built of these.
What are cells?
Most of the heat on the planet is stored here.
What are the oceans?
This phenomenon, along with cohesion, allows trees to move water to the highest branches.
What is adhesion?
This compound is the only thing we eat every day that isn't produced by another living organism.
What is table salt?
This chemical compound makes up the majority of the human body by weight.
What is water?
This is the type of reproduction that doesn't require a mate.
What is asexual?
If ice was more dense than liquid water, then all water on the planet would turn into this.
What is ice?
This is the type of bond that binds two water molecules together.
What is hydrogen bonding?
Steel is not considered an element because it's a combination of carbon and this metal.
What is iron?
If an organism can maintain balance internally even as the external environment is changing, then it's capable of this.
What is homeostasis?
Water in this phase of matter has the highest specific heat.
What is liquid?
If you combine water with a solute you can produce this.
What is an aqueous solution?
This element is the second-most abundant element in the human body.
What is carbon?
There are many reasons rocks are not considered alive; one reason is they can't respond to this.
What is a stimulus/environment?
The process of melting ice exposing more of the ocean surface to the sun at the North Pole is an example of this type of feedback.
What is a positive feedback?
This substance can be used to break surface tension of an aqueous solution.
What is a surfactant?
This is the second-strongest type of chemical bond and it is present in salts.
What is ionic?
This process relies on some traits of living organisms being better than other traits at leading to successful reproduction.
What is evolution?
Global warming is leading to higher ocean temperatures and could eventually lead to the collapse of this ocean current system that runs along the East Coast of the U.S.
What is AMOC?
Ocean acidification is being caused by the addition of this acid.
What is carbonic acid?