BSCS Biology: A Molecular Approach

Chapter 17: The Origin of Life

Chapter Test

1.
Why did Edwin Hubble conclude from his observations of light from distant galaxies that the universe is expanding?
A)The intensity of light is decreasing.
B)The wavelength of light is increasing.
C)The speed of light is decreasing.
D)The frequency of light is increasing.
2.
What is the current best estimate of the age of the earth?
A)40 billion years
B)4 billion years
C)40 million years
D)4 million years
3.
When did oxygen begin to accumulate in the Earth's atmosphere?
A)When photosynthetic organisms began to produce it.
B)After the first volcanic eruptions.
C)As soon as Earth formed.
D)When animals evolved to consume it.
4.
In laboratory experiments designed to simulate conditions on early Earth, which of the following molecules is NOT produced?
A)ribose
B)DNA
C)glycine
D)cytosine
5.
According to the heterotroph hypothesis, Earth's earliest life forms____.
A)ate other living things for food
B)could not photosynthesize
C)evolved under the Earth's surface
D)did not contain DNA
6.
Why do scientists think RNA, not DNA, was the first genetic material?
A)RNA can store information and act as an enzyme.
B)DNA copies itself but can not store information.
C)DNA did not exist in early cells.
D)RNA sometimes forms a double helix.
7.
How is biological evolution distinct from chemical evolution?
A)Biological evolution preceded chemical evolution in the origin of life.
B)Not all organisms on Earth undergo biological evolution.
C)Biological evolution is not affected by mutations.
D)Biological evolution happens when organisms can self-replicate.
8.
Why is it difficult to find fossils of Earth's earliest life forms?
A)Most of rocks containing Earth's earliest fossils have been destroyed.
B)Earth's earliest life forms arrived via meteorites from elsewhere in the universe.
C)Early life forms do not look anything like living things on Earth today.
D)Early life forms were highly unstable viruses.
9.
What is true of methanogens?
A)They consume methane.
B)They are anaerobic.
C)They are eukaryotes.
D)They live in oxygen-rich environments.
10.
How does the endosymbiont hypothesis explain the evolution of eukaryotes?
A)Prokaryotes and eukaryotes evolved simultaneously and independently.
B)Eukaryotes evolved when large prokaryotes absorbed small prokaryotes.
C)Eukaryotes evolved by competition and natural selection.
D)Eukaryotes evolved organelles from free-living eukaryotic cells.
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