Lab Activity 25: Textbook Skills <IMG SRC="/wps/media/objects/786/805726/tbskils_small.gif" ALT="tbskils

Chapter 5: Locating Stated Main Ideas
Lab Activity 25: Textbook Skills

Objective
To locate topic sentences and thesis statements in a textbook passage.

Step 1: Click here to read an excerpt from the textbook Life on Earth. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file.

Step 2: Complete the activity by answering the following questions. For questions 7–10, fill in the best answer choice, based on the textbook passage. Your instructor will tell you whether to write your answers in your book or to submit your answers online for electronic grading.

1. Which of the following is the topic of the chapter?

a. The cell

b. The ecosystem

c. Energy flow in the life of a cell

d. Global warming and the future of the earth

2. Which is the topic sentence in the section headed "Energy Cannot Be Created or Destroyed"?

a. The laws of thermodynamics describe the basic properties and behavior of energy.

b. The first law of thermodynamics, often called the law of conservation of energy, states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, so the total amount of energy remains constant.

c. Energy, however, can change its form.

d. In both of these cases, potential energy changes form, but the total amount of energy remains unchanged.

3. Which is the topic sentence in the section headed "Energy Tends to Become Distributed Evenly"?

a. The second law of thermodynamics states that whenever energy is converted from one form to another, the amount of energy that is in useful forms decreases.

b. All spontaneous changes result in a more even distribution of energy, which reduces the energy differences that are required to do work.

c. In other words, energy tends to be converted from more useful into less useful forms.

d. None of the above.

4. According to the passage, entropy is

a. the natural order in the universe.

b. spontaneous and orderly processes.

c. increasing randomness and disorder in the universe.

d. predictable order in the universe.

5. To illustrate entropy, the authors use which details?

a. The purchase of a car

b. The writing of an essay

c. The creation of a musical masterpiece

d. Cleaning closets and drawers in our homes

6. Which sentence best expresses the topic sentence in the section headed "Living Things Use the Energy of Sunlight to Create Low-Entropy Conditions"?

a. If you think about the second law of thermodynamics, you may wonder how life can exist at all.

b. Matter tends toward increasing randomness and disorder.

c. Given these facts, how can organisms accumulate the concentrated energy and precisely ordered molecules that characterize living things?

d. The answer is that living things use a continuous input of solar energy to construct complex molecules.

7. The __________ requires an input of energy from some outside source.

chemical reaction

reactants

products

exergonic reaction

endergonic reaction

8. A(n)_____________ converts one set of chemical substances into another set.

chemical reaction

reactants

products

exergonic reaction

endergonic reaction

9. A(n) ____________ releases energy.

chemical reaction

reactants

products

exergonic reaction

endergonic reaction

10. ____________ are converted into products during a chemical reaction.

chemical reaction

reactants

products

exergonic reaction

endergonic reaction