Unit 10 Studyguide

You will need to refer to your ppt. notes, webquests, radioisotope lab and the reading handouts in class. Content was also covered in the video clips during class.

What was the source of energy used in the chemical reactions forming the first organic molecules?

What is a ribozyme and why are they significant to the origin of life?

Why is the discovery of amino acids on meteorites important?

What nucleic acid may have been a catalyst for the formation of early proteins?

Urey-Miller Experiment

  • What gases were used?
  • Why was the water heated?
  • What was the purpose of the condenser?
  • What was the purpose of the electric spark?
  • What types of substances were produced by the experiment?

Endosymbiotic theory

  • Explain the endosymbiotic theory
  • How are mitochondria and chloroplasts significant to the development of early eukaryotic cells?
  • What is special about the DNA found in mitochondria and chloroplasts?
  • Cyanobacteria are ancestors of what organelle?
  • Cyanobacteria produce what gas?
  • What are cyanobacteria? Where were they found on early Earth and why are they important?

What were the first multicellular organisms to live on land?

What were the first type of animals to have lived on land?

Why was the ozone necessary to the development of life on land?

Fossils

What information is learned by studying the fossil record?

Explain why the fossil record is incomplete.

What form of rock are fossils usually found in?

What is an index fossil?

Did index fossils live during long or short geologic time spans?

Did index fossils live in many regions or few regions of the world?

What are methods of fossilization?

Coal is formed from the fossilized remains of what?

What Period are coal deposits in the United States from?

What is the Law of Superposition?

How can the relative age of a fossil be determined?

What can be determined of fossils found in the same strata of rock, but in different regions of the world?

Dating & Time

What is relative dating?

What is absolute dating?

What is radioisometric dating?

What is a radioisotope?

What feature of radioactive decay allows it to be used for absolute dating?

What is the relationship between parent and daughter isotopes?

Carbon-14

  • What is it?
  • What type of dating is it used for?
  • What type of materials can it be used on?
  • What age of materials can it be used on?

Approximately how old is the Earth?

How many major extinctions took place and when do they occur on the geologic time scale?

What determines the divisions of the geologic time scale?

What is the principle of uniformitarianism?

Place the following geologic eras in order from oldest to youngest: Mesozoic, Cenozoic, Paleozoic

When did the last mass extinction take place?