I would appreciate some Bio tips. This drives me crazy!

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

I am sorry to ask this, but I had a test in biology, and even though I think I knew the general concepts, a couple things related to wording and or question format had me worried, and I cannot stop thinking about it. It's driving me crazy, and I have no one else to ask. I would really appreciate help, because this really isn't my area.

There was a question on the test dealing with passive/active transport.From what I remember, the question asked " what represents passive transport" and listed these options. I chose C.

A. Active Transport
B. Facilitated Transport
C. Diffusion
E. All of the above.

Is that a trick question, or was I just wrong?? It doesn't make sense to me, because there isno B or C option. According to my book, both B and C are examples and expressive of passive transport. It can't be A, and it therefore cannot be E, so how the hell can you only choose 1 of two equally correct answers? Am I missing something about the concept?

Another problem was thus:


2. There were also two questions which delt with Tonicity. It asked you to describe A in relation to C and B in relation to C. I assumed the question was dealing with Osmosis, but if the arrow is pointing away from cell A and toward the C solution, then wouldn't A be hypotonic compared to C because the water would be moving from an area of high concentration in the cell to an area of low concentration (following the gradient) to low concentration. Is that right, or am I just not getting it. Whenever I see examples online, the ones with arrows pointing out of a cell into the solution are labled Hypertonic. I don't get it though, because if the arrow is pointing out, isn't it going with the concentration gradient? Osmosis always goes from hypotonic to hypertonic, I reckon.



IE
-----------------------------------
A B
()-----> ()------>

C
----------------------------------


3. We generally learned that Light Microscopes can only have good resolution to the Bacterial level, or at least our book says so. However, the question said:

1. Can microcope can resolve to the bacterial level.

A. Light Miscroscope
B. TEM
C. SEM
D. None.

I put A. Would that be correct? What does this mean exactly? Would this be answered by saying the Light Microscope? It wouldn't also be SEM and TEM... My dictionary has two conflicting definitions of "resolve" when it comes to biology, and they seem to provide the opposite answers.

[Lucifer]

I think the first one is B because facilitated transport requires the use of a protein carrier, but no ATP and the movement of molecules is down the concentration gradient, not against. Diffusion does not require a channel, so I wouldn't really call it passive transport.

2) A would be hypertonic because the C solution is hypertonic. A hypertonic solution is one that has a high salt concentration, relative to the cell, so since the salt concentration in the cell is lower than outside, it loses water. Since its salt concentration is increasing from the loss of water, A is becoming hypertonic. Hypotonic solution is the opposite; it has low salt concentrations, so if the C solution were hypotonic, and the cell has a higher concentration of salt, the water would flow into the cell. Since the cell now has a lower salt concentration, it is hypotonic. This is confusing because hypo/TON/ic makes you think that the cell would stretch less, and hyper/TON/ic makes you think the cell would stretch more.

3) That would be which resolution you can properly see bacteria. Most of them can be seen with a light microscope, as I have done in lab, so A should be correct.

[Darth Servo]

There was a question on the test dealing with passive/active transport.From what I remember, the question asked " what represents passive transport" and listed these options. I chose C.

A. Active Transport
B. Facilitated Transport
C. Diffusion
E. All of the above.

Correct

Is that a trick question, or was I just wrong?? It doesn't make sense to me, because there isno B or C option. According to my book, both B and C are examples and expressive of passive transport. It can't be A, and it therefore cannot be E, so how the hell can you only choose 1 of two equally correct answers? Am I missing something about the concept?

Is there a missing answer 'D'? Facilitated transport involves proteins helping molecules down the concentration gradient so it isn't completely passive.

Another problem was thus:

2. There were also two questions which delt with Tonicity. It asked you to describe A in relation to C and B in relation to C. I assumed the question was dealing with Osmosis, but if the arrow is pointing away from cell A and toward the C solution, then wouldn't A be hypotonic compared to C because the water would be moving from an area of high concentration in the cell to an area of low concentration (following the gradient) to low concentration. Is that right, or am I just not getting it. Whenever I see examples online, the ones with arrows pointing out of a cell into the solution are labled Hypertonic. I don't get it though, because if the arrow is pointing out, isn't it going with the concentration gradient? Osmosis always goes from hypotonic to hypertonic, I reckon.


IE
-----------------------------------
A B
()-----> ()------>

C
----------------------------------

Give an link to the examples you are describing.

3. We generally learned that Light Microscopes can only have good resolution to the Bacterial level, or at least our book says so. However, the question said:

1. Can microcope can resolve to the bacterial level.

A. Light Miscroscope
B. TEM
C. SEM
D. None.

I put A. Would that be correct? What does this mean exactly? Would this be answered by saying the Light Microscope? It wouldn't also be SEM and TEM... My dictionary has two conflicting definitions of "resolve" when it comes to biology, and they seem to provide the opposite answers.

Post the quotes from the book. All should have resolution at the bacterial level.

[tharkûn]

Any chance this a 100 level bio quiz written by a non-native English speaker?

From what is posted the test looks seriously screwed.

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

Is there a missing answer 'D'? Facilitated transport involves proteins helping molecules down the concentration gradient so it isn't completely passive.

I am sorry. There was no E. It was just A B C D.

You could only choose all of the above as D. Sorry.

I was just very confused on this. My textbook doesn't make a distinction and claims it is passive, since it requires no ATP. I emailed the professor, so I think she might explain in class.

Give an link to the examples you are describing.

Oh, that was the example. It came from our test.

Post the quotes from the book. All should have resolution at the bacterial level.

"The Compound Light Miscroscope is only able to resolve to the bacterial level." --that's exactly what my book said.

Now, I tried to think out of the box. If TEM and SEM can clearly see viruses, wouldn't they also be able to clearly differentiate between bacteria? I am usually averse to trying to logically outthink the question on a multiple choice exam, because I have had experiences in the past where my teachers didn't intend on people looking too deep into it. They wanted the exact book wording. I have yet to see what she will say. Some professors are different, though. I didn't know if I were just hallucinating or something.

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

Any chance this a 100 level bio quiz written by a non-native English speaker?

From what is posted the test looks seriously screwed.

No. She's just really weird. She knows her stuff, but her tests questions are vague as shit, and they aren't even complete sentences...just fragments. It's harder to figure out what the hell she's asking than actually the answer.


That is she: Smart woman, Good professor...just...hard to comprehend. http://staff.bcc.edu/ksweeney/

[The Nomad]

Facilitated transport involves proteins helping molecules down the concentration gradient so it isn't completely passive.

Wrong. Both diffusion and facilitated transport are passive, which means that they don't use ATP. I just checked my cell biology course, and the presence of helping molecules changes nothing to that ( example of such passive transport involves the GLUT proteins ).

"The Compound Light Miscroscope is only able to resolve to the bacterial level." --that's exactly what my book said.

Now, I tried to think out of the box. If TEM and SEM can clearly see viruses, wouldn't they also be able to clearly differentiate between bacteria? I am usually averse to trying to logically outthink the question on a multiple choice exam, because I have had experiences in the past where my teachers didn't intend on people looking too deep into it. They wanted the exact book wording. I have yet to see what she will say. Some professors are different, though. I didn't know if I were just hallucinating or something.

I take it SEM and TEM are Sweeping and Transmission Electronic Microscopes ? ( I'm unfamiliar with English acronyms ).
IIRC I saw photographs of cells and bacteria taken by one of them, so I'd say yes, they could resolve at the bacterial level. However, if you prof intended to ask you the maximal resolution, then only Light Microscopes would AFAIK qualify as an answer ( SEM have a resolution of about 4 nm, and TEM of 0.4 nm, both of which are much smaller than bacteria ). It's just too vague.

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

You are right. It's very vague. All her questions were like that. I sorely hope she doesn't count that against people.