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GCSE Biology


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What is a cell?

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Answer:

The basic unit of all living organisms

What is the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?

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Answer:

Prokaryotic cells have no nucleus; eukaryotic cells have a nucleus

Name three structures found in plant cells but not animal cells

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Answer:

Cell wall and chloroplasts and permanent vacuole

What is the function of the nucleus?

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Answer:

Controls cell activities and contains genetic material

What is the function of mitochondria?

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Answer:

Site of aerobic respiration and releases energy

What is the function of chloroplasts?

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Answer:

Site of photosynthesis in plant cells

What is the function of ribosomes?

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Answer:

Site of protein synthesis

What is the cell membrane?

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Answer:

Controls what enters and leaves the cell

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What is diffusion?

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Answer:

Movement of particles from high to low concentration

What is osmosis?

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Answer:

Movement of water through a partially permeable membrane

What is active transport?

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Answer:

Movement of substances against concentration gradient using energy

What factors affect diffusion rate?

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Answer:

Concentration gradient and temperature and surface area

What is a tissue?

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Answer:

A group of similar cells working together

What is an organ?

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Answer:

A group of tissues working together

What is an organ system?

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Answer:

A group of organs working together

Name the levels of organization in living things

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Answer:

Cell and tissue and organ and organ system and organism

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What is the equation for photosynthesis?

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Answer:

Carbon dioxide + water → glucose + oxygen

Where does photosynthesis occur?

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Answer:

In chloroplasts in plant cells

What are the limiting factors of photosynthesis?

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Answer:

Light intensity and carbon dioxide concentration and temperature

How do you test a leaf for starch?

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Answer:

Use iodine solution which turns blue-black if starch is present

What is cellular respiration?

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Answer:

Process that releases energy from glucose

What is the equation for aerobic respiration?

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Answer:

Glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water + energy

What is anaerobic respiration?

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Answer:

Respiration without oxygen

What is the equation for anaerobic respiration in animals?

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Answer:

Glucose → lactic acid + energy

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What is the equation for anaerobic respiration in plants?

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Answer:

Glucose → ethanol + carbon dioxide + energy

What is oxygen debt?

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Answer:

Extra oxygen needed after exercise to remove lactic acid

What is the circulatory system?

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Answer:

System that transports substances around the body

What are the components of blood?

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Answer:

Red blood cells and white blood cells and platelets and plasma

What is the function of red blood cells?

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Answer:

Transport oxygen around the body

What is the function of white blood cells?

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Answer:

Fight infection and disease

What is the function of platelets?

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Answer:

Help blood clot at wounds

What is the function of plasma?

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Answer:

Transports dissolved substances in blood

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What is the structure of the heart?

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Answer:

Four chambers with two atria and two ventricles

What is the function of arteries?

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Answer:

Carry blood away from the heart at high pressure

What is the function of veins?

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Answer:

Carry blood back to the heart at low pressure

What is the function of capillaries?

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Answer:

Allow exchange of substances between blood and tissues

What is the digestive system?

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Answer:

System that breaks down food into smaller molecules

What is mechanical digestion?

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Answer:

Physical breakdown of food by teeth and stomach churning

What is chemical digestion?

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Answer:

Breakdown of food by enzymes

What are enzymes?

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Answer:

Biological catalysts that speed up chemical reactions

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What is the optimum temperature for human enzymes?

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Answer:

About 37 degrees Celsius

What happens to enzymes at high temperatures?

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Answer:

They denature and lose their shape

What is the function of amylase?

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Answer:

Breaks down starch into sugars

What is the function of protease?

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Answer:

Breaks down proteins into amino acids

What is the function of lipase?

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Answer:

Breaks down fats into fatty acids and glycerol

Where is bile produced?

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Answer:

In the liver

What is the function of bile?

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Answer:

Neutralizes stomach acid and emulsifies fats

What is the small intestine adapted for?

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Answer:

Absorption of nutrients into the blood

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Name three adaptations of the small intestine

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Answer:

Villi and microvilli and good blood supply

What is the respiratory system?

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Answer:

System that exchanges gases between body and environment

What is the pathway air takes into the lungs?

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Answer:

Nose/mouth → trachea → bronchi → bronchioles → alveoli

What are alveoli?

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Answer:

Tiny air sacs where gas exchange occurs

Name three adaptations of alveoli for gas exchange

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Answer:

Large surface area and thin walls and good blood supply

What is inspiration?

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Answer:

Breathing in air to the lungs

What is expiration?

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Answer:

Breathing out air from the lungs

What happens to the diaphragm during inspiration?

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Answer:

It flattens and moves down

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What is the nervous system?

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Answer:

System that coordinates responses to stimuli

What is a stimulus?

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Answer:

A change in the environment

What is a response?

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Answer:

A reaction to a stimulus

What is the central nervous system?

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Answer:

Brain and spinal cord

What is the peripheral nervous system?

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Answer:

All nerves outside the brain and spinal cord

What is a reflex action?

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Answer:

Automatic response to a stimulus

What is the pathway of a reflex arc?

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Answer:

Receptor → sensory neuron → relay neuron → motor neuron → effector

What is the function of sensory neurons?

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Answer:

Carry impulses from receptors to CNS

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What is the function of motor neurons?

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Answer:

Carry impulses from CNS to effectors

What is a synapse?

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Answer:

Gap between two neurons

How do impulses cross synapses?

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Answer:

Chemical messengers called neurotransmitters

What is homeostasis?

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Answer:

Maintaining constant internal conditions

What is negative feedback?

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Answer:

Process that counteracts changes to maintain steady state

How is body temperature controlled?

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Answer:

By the hypothalamus in the brain

What happens when body temperature rises?

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Answer:

Sweating increases and blood vessels dilate

What happens when body temperature falls?

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Answer:

Shivering occurs and blood vessels constrict

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How is blood glucose controlled?

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Answer:

By insulin and glucagon hormones

What does insulin do?

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Answer:

Lowers blood glucose by converting glucose to glycogen

What does glucagon do?

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Answer:

Raises blood glucose by converting glycogen to glucose

What is Type 1 diabetes?

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Answer:

Condition where pancreas cannot produce insulin

What is the treatment for Type 1 diabetes?

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Answer:

Regular insulin injections

What are hormones?

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Answer:

Chemical messengers carried in the blood

Where are hormones produced?

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Answer:

In endocrine glands

What is the menstrual cycle?

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Answer:

Monthly cycle preparing female body for pregnancy

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What hormone causes egg release?

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Answer:

Luteinizing hormone (LH)

What is fertilization?

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Answer:

Fusion of male and female gametes

Where does fertilization occur?

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Answer:

In the fallopian tubes

What is a gamete?

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Answer:

A sex cell containing half the normal number of chromosomes

What are the male gametes called?

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Answer:

Sperm

What are the female gametes called?

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Answer:

Eggs or ova

What is mitosis?

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Answer:

Cell division producing two identical diploid cells

What is meiosis?

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Answer:

Cell division producing four genetically different haploid gametes

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What is DNA?

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Answer:

Chemical that carries genetic information

What is a gene?

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Answer:

A section of DNA that codes for a characteristic

What is an allele?

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Answer:

Different versions of the same gene

What is a chromosome?

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Answer:

Structure containing DNA found in the nucleus

How many chromosomes do humans have?

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Answer:

46 chromosomes or 23 pairs

What is the difference between dominant and recessive alleles?

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Answer:

Dominant alleles are expressed when present; recessive only when homozygous

What is genotype?

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Answer:

The genetic makeup of an organism

What is phenotype?

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Answer:

The observable characteristics of an organism

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What is heterozygous?

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Answer:

Having two different alleles for a gene

What is homozygous?

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Answer:

Having two identical alleles for a gene

What is variation?

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Answer:

Differences between individuals

What causes genetic variation?

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Answer:

Sexual reproduction and mutations

What causes environmental variation?

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Answer:

Factors in the environment like diet and exercise

What is evolution?

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Answer:

Change in inherited characteristics over time

What is natural selection?

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Answer:

Process where organisms with advantageous traits survive and reproduce

What is adaptation?

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Answer:

Features that help organisms survive in their environment

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What is extinction?

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Answer:

When all members of a species die out

What is biodiversity?

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Answer:

The variety of living organisms in an ecosystem

What is an ecosystem?

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Answer:

All living and non-living factors in an environment

What is a habitat?

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Answer:

The place where an organism lives

What is a population?

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Answer:

All organisms of one species in a habitat

What is a community?

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Answer:

All organisms in a habitat

What do food chains show?

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Answer:

Transfer of energy between organisms

What is a producer?

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Answer:

Organism that makes its own food by photosynthesis

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What is a primary consumer?

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Answer:

Organism that eats producers

What is a secondary consumer?

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Answer:

Organism that eats primary consumers

What is a decomposer?

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Answer:

Organism that breaks down dead material

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