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March 29, 2024, 06:18:24 am

Author Topic: VCE Biology Question Thread  (Read 3570864 times)  Share 

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nerdmmb

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #390 on: January 31, 2014, 06:47:50 pm »
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I actually had a few questions related to the law of thermodynamics -
can someone please explain it and how its relevant to the unit 3 course?

alondouek

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #391 on: January 31, 2014, 06:55:24 pm »
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I actually had a few questions related to the law of thermodynamics -
can someone please explain it and how its relevant to the unit 3 course?

Well, a couple of things should be established before I (attempt to) give an answer :P

>There are 4 Laws of Thermodynamics
>You probably (read: Almost certainly) don't need to know them for the biology course (if you're doing physics on the other hand...)

The only application I can think of for any of the laws of thermodynamics is the 0th Law, which states that "If two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, they must be in thermal equilibrium with each other" and the 1st Law: "Heat is a form of energy" (as per wiki). Unless some crazy changes have happened to the bio course in the past year, you don't need to know anything about entropy (so don't worry about laws 2 and 3).

Aside from 'heat is energy', which is pretty fundamental, the zeroth law has some applications in cellular transport mechanisms and biosynthesis of molecules ----> but again, this sort of thing is definitely beyond the course.
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nerdmmb

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #392 on: January 31, 2014, 07:01:07 pm »
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Thank-you alondouek!
I also had another question --- can free energy also be referred to as potential energy?

Also, how is heat given off? It obviously isn't tangible so does the giving off of heat also involve it passing any membranes?

Thanks :)

alondouek

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #393 on: January 31, 2014, 07:17:45 pm »
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I also had another question --- can free energy also be referred to as potential energy?

Gibbs Free Energy   is kinda/sorta a quantity of potential energy (called a thermodynamic potential). Potential energy itself is a measure of the stored energy of a system, and the is pretty much that (i.e. it's a measure of the "usable" energy of a thermodynamic system).

N.B. The only time I ever studied physics was for a first-year biophysics unit, so my knowledge may be a bit (understatement of the century) iffy. Anyone: Feel free to correct me where I'm wrong!

Also, how is heat given off? It obviously isn't tangible so does the giving off of heat also involve it passing any membranes?

The question "how is heat given off" is a little too general to answer directly. If you're talking about giving off heat on the individual person scale, then you'd be thinking about things like radiation, convection and evaporation (essentially, how our physical environment allows us to lose heat when needed).
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nerdmmb

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #394 on: January 31, 2014, 07:19:54 pm »
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Thanks alondouek!
I only just realised how stupid my question was :P

nerdmmb

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #395 on: January 31, 2014, 08:30:38 pm »
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sorry about asking so many questions  :-[

But can someone please explain the krebs cycle and the electron transport?
I understand glycolysis and fermentation but I'm confused about what happens in the aerobic pathway..

DJA

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #396 on: February 01, 2014, 06:01:38 pm »
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sorry about asking so many questions  :-[

But can someone please explain the krebs cycle and the electron transport?
I understand glycolysis and fermentation but I'm confused about what happens in the aerobic pathway..

You could check out my visual representation on my post to this thread. Link below:
Re: Biology Question Thread [3/4]
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alchemy

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #397 on: February 01, 2014, 06:16:48 pm »
+1
You could check out my visual representation on my post to this thread. Link below:
Re: Biology Question Thread [3/4]

DJALogical is back!  :D
Yeah, that diagram really helped me before. It depicts all you need to know.

vox nihili

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #398 on: February 01, 2014, 06:55:54 pm »
+1
You could check out my visual representation on my post to this thread. Link below:
Re: Biology Question Thread [3/4]

A chemist would probably want to kill you for it, but that diagram is top notch. I may even use it this year!
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MM1

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #399 on: February 01, 2014, 10:36:20 pm »
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Suggest why many globular proteins, in contrast to fibrous proteins, have a catalytic or regulatory role.

- I answered that since globular proteins are easily water soluble and most biochemical reactions occur in a watery medium, this quality (solubility) makes it ideal; in contrast to fibrous proteins.

Is this also a correct answer?; the other answer is that they have a catalytic/regulatory role because their structure (spherical tertiary shape) allows for an active site hence enabling it as ideal for a catalytic and regulatory role (such as in enzymes and hormones).

Is my first answer correct/acceptable for full marks or is the second one 'more' correct?

Cheers!!

« Last Edit: February 01, 2014, 10:45:41 pm by MM1 »

psyxwar

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #400 on: February 01, 2014, 10:52:27 pm »
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Suggest why many globular proteins, in contrast to fibrous proteins, have a catalytic or regulatory role.

- I answered that since globular proteins are easily water soluble and most biochemical reactions occur in a watery medium, this quality (solubility) makes it ideal; in contrast to fibrous proteins.

Is this also a correct answer?; the other answer is that they have a catalytic/regulatory role because their structure (spherical tertiary shape) allows for an active site hence enabling it as ideal for a catalytic and regulatory role (such as in enzymes and hormones).

Is my first answer correct/acceptable for full marks or is the second one 'more' correct?

Cheers!!
I'm not sure if being water soluble is enough to justify their catalytic/ regulatory roles. You should definitely talk about structure (remember that proteins' function are dictated by their structure) and how it comes into play. The shape of globular proteins allows them to better interact with ligands, helping to facilliate a role in catalysis and regulation.

Just an FYI though, you don't need to know about fibrous/globular proteins anymore.
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vox nihili

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #401 on: February 01, 2014, 10:54:24 pm »
+1
Suggest why many globular proteins, in contrast to fibrous proteins, have a catalytic or regulatory role.

- I answered that since globular proteins are easily water soluble and most biochemical reactions occur in a watery medium, this quality (solubility) makes it ideal; in contrast to fibrous proteins.

Is this also a correct answer?; the other answer is that they have a catalytic/regulatory role because their structure (spherical tertiary shape) allows for an active site hence enabling it as ideal for a catalytic and regulatory role (such as in enzymes and hormones).

Is my first answer correct/acceptable for full marks or is the second one 'more' correct?

Cheers!!

This seems a bit full on for the Biology course.

I'm with psyxwar though. The most obvious answer is that for a protein to act as a catalyst it must have an active site. Fibrous proteins are flat and long, they're filamentary and therefore can't fulfill this requirement, whereas globular proteins are, well globular, and therefore can.
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MM1

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #402 on: February 01, 2014, 11:22:58 pm »
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I'm not sure if being water soluble is enough to justify their catalytic/ regulatory roles. You should definitely talk about structure (remember that proteins' function are dictated by their structure) and how it comes into play. The shape of globular proteins allows them to better interact with ligands, helping to facilliate a role in catalysis and regulation.

Just an FYI though, you don't need to know about fibrous/globular proteins anymore.

Thanks psyxwar! I just noticed I should've primarily referred to proteins specifically since enzymes and hormones are protein-based. Cheers!

This seems a bit full on for the Biology course.

I'm with psyxwar though. The most obvious answer is that for a protein to act as a catalyst it must have an active site. Fibrous proteins are flat and long, they're filamentary and therefore can't fulfill this requirement, whereas globular proteins are, well globular, and therefore can.

Cheers Mr. T-Rav!; yeah it was from a Biozone workbook - full of redundant material.

vox nihili

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #403 on: February 02, 2014, 12:10:19 am »
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Cheers Mr. T-Rav!; yeah it was from a Biozone workbook - full of redundant material.

This is very true. Though, I must say that the question probably wasn't too unreasonable. It was along the lines of the thinking that the Biol course likes you to do. The key point to take home from it was that for a protein to be a hormone or an enzyme, it must have a specific and unique shape. Something that can't really be achieved by fibrous proteins :)
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Chang Feng

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Re: VCE Biology Question Thread
« Reply #404 on: February 02, 2014, 09:45:24 am »
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For the various plant hormones eg auxin. Are we only meant to know a basic one sentence function of what it does??