BIOLOGY OLYMPIAD ACTIVITY BOOK CHEMISTRY OF LIFE

Topic: CHEMISTRY OF LIFE: TEST 1 9. Which one of the following subatomic particles
has appreciable mass and lacks a charge?
1. Which of the following statements is true about A) proton B) neutron
compounds? C) electron D) element
A) Twenty-five compounds are essential to life. E) molecule
B) They are held together by hydrogen bonds.
C) They have polarity. 10. The number of protons in an uncharged atom
D) They contain two or more elements in a fixed _____.
ratio to each other. A) equals the number of electrons
E) All of the above. B) equals the number of neutrons
C) varies with the different isotopes
2. There are _____ naturally occurring elements. D) equals the number of electrons in the outer
A) 92 B) 45 C) 230 D) 25 E) 108 orbital of the atom
E) determines its mass number
3. Why are biologists so interested in chemistry?
A) Chemicals are the fundamental parts of all living TEST 2
things.
B) Most chemicals are harmful to living things. 1. The first organic molecule to be synthesized from
C) They know little about life except the chemicals inorganic substances was _____.
it is made from. A) urea B) acetic acid
C) ammonium cyanate D) insulin
D) If you understand the chemistry of life, you can
E) DNA
make a lot of money.
E) Everything about life can be known by 2. Stanley Miller's experiments were significant
understanding its chemistry. because he demonstrated that _____.
A) the behavior of any molecule containing a
4. K is the chemical symbol for __________ and P is carbon atom was fundamentally the same
the symbol for __________. B) under certain circumstances the theory of
vitalism was valid
A) phosphorus ... sodium
C) a large variety of organic compounds could be
B) sodium ... potassium spontaneously synthesized from components in
C) potassium ... phosphorus Earth's primitive atmosphere
D) magnesium ... phosphorus D) lightning discharges could produce the
E) iron ... potassium molecules previously presumed to have
originated in volcanic outgassings
5. Which one of the following is NOT one of the four E) urea could be synthesized from entirely
naturally occurring salts
most common elements found in living systems?
A) H B) N C) C 3. Which is an organic molecule?
D) Ne E) all of the above A) Ne B) O2
C) CH4 D) NaCl
6. Four elements are the most abundant in life: E) H2O
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. What do
4. Which element is most particularly associated
they have in common?
with organic chemistry?
A) They are found only in living cells. A) carbon B) sulfur
B) They can all form double bonds with carbon. C) nitrogen D) potassium
C) They are all tetravalent. E) oxygen
D) They have the same atomic mass.
E) They are all relatively light atoms (near the top 5. What is the three-dimensional shape created by
of the periodic table). hybrid orbitals that are formed when a carbon atom
is covalently bonded with four other atoms?
A) a flat sheet with carbon in the center
7. Which of the following is the smallest in volume? B) a triangle with carbon in the center
A) the nucleus of an oxygen atom C) a cube with carbon in the center
B) a water molecule D) a tetrahedron with carbon in the center
C) a proton E) all of the above are possible
D) an ice crystal
E) the electron cloud of an oxygen atom 6. A molecule constructed from ___ must contain at
least one carbon-carbon double bond.
A) 6 hydrogen, 2 carbon
8. Which one of the following has negligible mass? B) 6 hydrogen, 3 carbon
A) proton B) neutron C) 6 hydrogen, 2 carbon, 1 oxygen
C) electron D) atom D) 8 hydrogen, 3 carbon, 3 oxygen
E) element E) 14 hydrogen, 12 carbon
BIOLOGY OLYMPIAD ACTIVITY BOOK CHEMISTRY OF LIFE

7. Carbon atoms are the most versatile building 3. Cellulose is a _____ made of many _____.
blocks of the molecules used by living organisms A) polypeptide ... monomers
because _____. B) carbohydrate ... fatty acids
A) carbon is the central atom of carbon dioxide, a C) polymer ... glucose molecules
necessary molecule for photosynthesis D) protein ... amino acids
B) carbon is the central atom in urea, a molecule E) lipid ... triglycerides
used by many living organisms to transport
wastes from the body 4. Why does the enzyme amylase break down
C) each carbon atom acts as an intersection point starch but not cellulose?
from which a molecule can branch off in up to A) The enzyme cannot attack cellulose because of
four directions its helical shape.
D) carbon can combine with hydrogen to form B) Cellulose molecules are much too large.
hydrocarbons C) Starch is made of glucose; cellulose is made of
E) all of the above other sugars.
D) The bonds between sugars in cellulose are
8. The carbon atom is tetravalent; this means that much stronger.
_____. E) The sugars in cellulose bond together differently
A) carbon readily forms ionic bonds than in starch.
B) carbon's first electron shell holds 4 electrons
C) a carbon atom can complete its valence shell by 5. Generally, animals cannot digest the linkages
forming four covalent bonds between the glucose molecules in cellulose. How
D) the bond angle between each bond is 90°, then do cows get enough nutrients from eating
forming an arrangement like the points on a grass?
compass A) They have to eat a lot of it.
E) carbon has a total of 4 electrons B) Microorganisms in their digestive tracts
hydrolyze the cellulose to glucose.
9. At the beginning of the 19th century, it was C) Cows and other herbivores are exceptions and
thought that the substances that made up living make some cellulose-digesting enzymes.
things were special and could not be synthesized D) The flat teeth and strong stomach of the
by ordinary chemical methods. This now-discarded herbivores break the cellulose fibers so the
theory was called the theory of ___________. cows get enough nutrition from the cell
A) special creation contents.
B) spontaneous generation E) All of the above.
C) vitalism
D) protoplasmic dynamism 6. The ovalbumin in egg white can be classified as
E) none of the above which type of protein?
A) structural B) transport
10. A molecule has one carbon-carbon double bond C) storage D) contractile
and four monovalent atoms or groups. How many E) signal
different geometric isomers exist for this molecule?
A) 0 B) 2 C) 4 D) 6 E) 8 7. In what polysaccharide form do plants store
sugar to be available later for energy?
A) glycogen B) cellulose
C) starch D) protein
TEST 3 E) fatty acids
1. What is the process by which cells link 8. The type of bond that forms to bind monomers
monomers together to form polymers? (such as sugar and amino acids) into polymers
A) hydrolysis B) monomerization (such as starch and proteins) is a(n) __________
C) protein formation D) coiling bond.
E) dehydration synthesis A) hydrogen B) covalent
C) ionic D) peptide
2. In a hydrolysis reaction, _____, and in this E) van der Waals
process water is _____ .
A) a polymer breaks up to form monomers ... 9. Which one of the following molecules has the
consumed lowest molecular weight?
B) a monomer breaks up to form polymers ... A) sucrose B) lactose
produced C) glucose D) cellulose
C) monomers are assembled to produce a polymer ... E) chitin
consumed
D) monomers are assembled to produce a polymer ... 10. Which one of the following molecules is a
produced carbohydrate?
E) a polymer breaks up to form monomers ... A) C51H98O6 B) C45H84O8PN
produced C) C60H100O50 D) C22H49O10N5
E) C25H43O