Answers to Biological Inquiry Questions Brooker et al ARIS site

Chapter 7 Figure 7.2 BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY QUESTION: Which do you think has more entropy a NaCl crystal at the bottom of a beaker of water or the same beaker of water after the Na + and Cl- ions in the crystal have dissolved in the water? ANSWER: The solution of dissolved Na+ and Cl- ions has more entropy. A salt crystal is very ordered, while the ions in solution are much more disordered. Figure 7.4 BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY QUESTION: How does lowering the activation energy affect the rate of a chemical reaction? ANSWER: It speeds up the rate. When the activation energy is lower, it takes less time for reactants to reach a transition state where a chemical reaction can occur. Figure 7.8 BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY QUESTION: If a large amount of ADP were broken down in the cell, how would this affect the ATP cycle? ANSWER: The breakdown of ADP would have an adverse effect. Usually, ATP is made by the covalent attachment of preexisting phosphate and ADP. If there was insufficient ADP, a cell would have to make more ADP to make ATP. This would take a lot of energy. Figure 7.16 BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY QUESTION: Can you explain the name of cytochrome oxidase? Can you think of another appropriate name? ANSWER: It is called cytochrome oxidase because it removes electrons from (i.e., oxidizes) cytochrome c. Another possible name would be oxygen reductase because it reduces oxygen. Figure 7.18 BIOLOGICAL INQUIRY QUESTION: Is the functioning of the electron transport chain always needed to make ATP via the ATP synthase? ANSWER: No. The role of the electron transport chain is to make an H + electrochemical gradient. It is the H+ electrochemical gradient that drives the ATP synthase. If the H + electrochemical is made another way, such as by bacteriorhodopsin, the ATP synthase still makes ATP.