Homeostasis
What is homeostasis?
The maintenance of constant internal conditions despite external changes.
How are enzymes important for the function of your cells?
Enzymes lower the activation energy of the chemical reactions that enable your cells to do their jobs.
What is the main difference between positive and negative feedback loops?
Positive feedback loops enhance and continue the change. Negative feedback loops inhibit/stop the change.
What is the capital city of Canada?
Ottawa
Explain why it's actually not possible to be in a perfect state of homeostasis.
Because your body is constantly experiencing external changes that impact internal conditions.
Where do substrates attach to enzymes?
At the active site.
What are the three parts of a feedback loop?
A sensor, a control center, an effector.
Which country has the most time zones?
Russia
What system in the body works to maintain homeostasis by sending almost instantaneous electrical signals and coordinating responses between different organs?
The nervous system.
What happens to an enzyme's active site if it is exposed to extremely cold temperatures?
The active site stays the same.
Why are positive feedback loops rare in our bodies?
Generally we want to respond to change to stop the change so we return to homeostasis. If we continue in the same direction as the change that tips our body towards a potentially unreversible change. In the case of changes like labor to deliver a child, that obviously is what we want to happen! but in the case of releasing insulin as a response to an increase in blood sugar, it would be disastrous if we depleted our blood glucose levels by constantly releasing insulin.
How many bones are there in the adult human body?
206
What role do hormones play in homeostasis?
Hormones are messages sent by the endocrine system to communicate with target cells. These messages give commands to the target cells so that your body can effectively respond to external changes.
Explain why all enzymes in your body have similar optimum temperatures but can have different optimum pH environments?
Your body maintains a very similar body temperature throughout your body, but some parts of your body are more acidic or more basic because of the functionality of those locations (ex: the stomach needs to be acidic to digest food). Your body needs enzymes in all of your cells so these enzymes have different optimum pH ranges because your cells operate in different pH conditions.
Is the process that regulates your body temperature a positive or negative feedback loop? How do you know?
It's a negative feedback loop because eventually we stop [shivering + vasoconstriction] / [sweating and vasodilation].
What is the tallest mountain in North America?
Denali
What part of the brain is responsible for regulating body temperature as part of maintaining homeostasis?
The hypothalamus.
What causes substrates to be able to connect with enzymes more frequently?
An increase in kinetic energy in the environment increases the kinetic energy of the substrates. (Raising the temperature of the environment)
What would happen to the feedback loop regulating blood glucose levels if a change happened to your liver cells and they could no longer produce receptors for glucagon?
The feedback loop would malfunction because your body would have no way of increasing blood sugar when your blood sugar is too low.
What year did the original Star Wars movie come out?
1977