1. Explain why Strontium 90 might be absorbed by your body, and why this would not be a good thing. Give an example of where this might have happened (we discussed several of these).
2. Explain why Cesium might be released from a recent accident, and how it would impact your body, using the periodic table.
3. Why might soap disable a plants' ability to draw water up to its leaves?
4. Explain how soap changes surface tension, and how this might be helpful in removing grease.
5. Which pairs of nucleotides bond to each other in the DNA strand?
6. The inset on water mentioned several other physical qualities that could be important to life on this planet. Explain how specific heat and heat of vaporization enable life as we know it on our planet, and why Keck is looking for liquid water in the universe.
7. Locate the main "sinks" for the following:
carbon
phosphorus
nitrogen
oxygen
sulfur
8. Lookup the following functional groups (wikipedia is useful here) and label each with it's charge:
carbonate
nitrate
phosphate
sulphate
chloride
hydroxide
ammonium
9. Using your answers above, combine each functional group with one of these:
hydrogen
calcium
chlorine
potassium
sodium
10. Which of your answers above are acids or bases?
11. You are now a third-world farmer (not the correct term, but the name of a simulation game) and need to ensure your crops have the proper major nutrients. What are these three nutrients, how do we refer to them in fertilizer, and what form do they often take in this fertilizer?
12. Water is "amphoteric". What does this mean, and include some form of structure in your answer.
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