UA&P EnSci Summer 07-08, Pointers for 2nd LE

Here are pointers for the second long exam.

Lab questions.

1. Calculate final ppm or molarity given a description of the preparation procedure.

2. (Just an example) Estimate the slope (m) of the line y=mx + 3 that best fits the three points (1,5), (2,15), and (3, 16). Slope m should be an integer.

3. Draw three growth curves with the same carrying capacity but having different growth rates: high, medium, and low.

4. Describe how to make a solution of X, 0.5X, 0.25X, and 0.125X of a given quantity.

5. Describe, step by step, how to transfer algae aseptically from an algal culture into a flask of clean, fresh, and sterile medium.

6. Draw a Hydra attached to the bottom surface of a culture well.

7. Draw an onion set-up in a shot glass for a toxicity experiment.


Lecture questions.

1. What kinds of problems generally do not have a technical solution and why?

2. The world's carrying capacity for humans probably exists, but it is very hard to estimate it in the long term. Explain why.

3. What basis is there in fact (true/false) for saying that man SHOULD (good/bad) care for the environment. Be very specific about those facts.

4. Leopold and Hardin would probably disagree on many points about how the population "problem" should be addressed.

5. When Miller talks about man being part of nature does he advocate a return to the Ancient's way of thinking? Explain.

6. McKibben probably disagrees that genetic modification will solve the food supply problem, while Tansley will probably say the opposite. Who will side with McKibben and who will side with Tansley--Hardin or Boulding--and why.

7. Convert the following NON-SCIENTIFIC statements into SCIENTIFIC statements and give one negating evidence for the SCIENTIFIC version of each question.

a. Detergents are bad for plant growth.
b. Children are God's gifts to their parents.
c. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
d. Thou shalt not kill.
e. You! Over there! Yes, you're cheating!

8. Ethics, a question of good, must ultimately be based not on what is good but on what is true. Explain.

9. The postmodern theory that "What is good is what is good for me" is illogical and absurd. Show where the logical error lies.

10. "We shouldn't cut too many trees because Aldo Leopold says so" is an example of a certain kind of argument that is valid and acceptable under certain conditions. Give two of those conditions.