QUESTIONS

1 . In what sense is the arrangement of atoms of special importance in living organisms? How is this related to entropy?
2. How are lipids used in living organisms? How are proteins used? Where are nucleic acids found in a cell?
3. What is a vitamin? Is the same chemical compound necessarily a vitamin for all living organisms? If not, why would it be a vitamin for one organism and not for another? What use was made of the vitamins that were mentioned in this chapter?
4. Why is growth, by itself, an insufficient criterion for life? What is the difference between the growth of an amoeba and a copper sulfate crystal?
5. In what sense are putting on a coat, and migrating from one latitude to another, comparable adaptations?
6. In what sense are running away, attacking an enemy, and excessive breeding, all comparable adaptations?
7. Why are both imperfect reproduction, and selection, necessary for the evolutionary process? What advantages does the evolutionary process confer on a line of living organisms, which faithful copying from one generation to the next could not offer? In what sense is a slight maladaptation of a part of a population beneficial?
8. How is genetic information stored in a living organism? What type of molecule is used?