Solutions Manual For Understanding Biology 4th Edition By Kenneth Mason, Tod Duncan, Jonathan Losos (All Chapters 100% Original Verified A+ Grade)
SM 1:Answers Synthesize Questions
SM 2:Analysis Answers Final
Supplement files download link at the end of this
file.
Understanding Biology, 4
th edition by Mason, Duncan, and Losos
Answers to End-of-Chapter Synthesize Questions
Chapter 1
1.
−
     = 21 6
1 10 (0.10) (0.0001) (1 10 ) 1,000,000,000
planets could support intelligent life. There are
many possible explanations for not “hearing from” other intelligent life forms. Some possibilities
include: (1) Different forms of intelligent life have different levels of awareness of other possible life
forms (so they do not know if we exist either); (2) The reasons we have not made contact with them
also explain why they have not made contact with us (cost of space exploration, distance to other lifesustaining planets, etc.); (3) Other intelligent life forms constitute a planet full of animals, or dinosaurs,
or insects, far, far away. These life forms are not likely try to make “contact”; and (4) The other plants
in our universe that support life are still in the earlier stages of developing life—similar to stages on
Earth before life as we know it. Just because a planet can support life does not mean that it does or
will.
2. The organism level is the lowest level of hierarchical organization that carries out all of the activities we
associate with life. An organism might be a single cell (bacterial cells are organized, grow and
reproduce, possess genetic information, acquire and use energy, and maintain homeostasis); but this is
not characteristic of all individual cells.
3. Probably not. The plants and animals Darwin saw on the Galapagos Islands were interesting to Darwin
because they did not resemble the plants and animals of islands with similar climates. In this way, they
provided evidence that plants and animals were not created independently and then placed on the
Galapagos Islands, but rather arrived from the South American mainland. The plants and animals on
the Cape Verde Islands would be more likely to resemble those on mainland Africa rather than those
on the Galapagos Islands.
4. For something to be considered living, it would demonstrate organization, possibly including a cellular
structure. The organism would acquire and use materials and energy to maintain homeostasis, respond
to its environment, and to grow and reproduce. These latter properties, and evidence of genetic
material and evolution, might be difficult to determine if the evidence of life from other planets is
fossil evidence.
Chapter 2
1. 6480 years (The sample would contain 8 mg in 1620 years, 4 mg in 3240 years, 2 mg 4860 years, and 1
mg in 6480 years).
2. This is likely so because so much of the body is composed of water, and most of the mass of that water
is attributed to oxygen (
16 of 18 g/mol
).
3. Stable molecules are built from stable covalent bonds. Covalent bonds are stable because they have no
net charge, satisfy the octet rule, and result in no unpaired electrons. Ionic bonds are not directional,
and thus are not truly between two individual atoms. This means that ionic bonds do not form distinct
molecules and are thus not the basis of stable molecules because they are not the basis of molecules at
all.