THSB
Matter and Energy in Living Systems
Plants make their own food in the form of sugar molecules from carbon dioxide molecules and water molecules. In…
Item ME041001: The solid wood of a tree comes mostly from carbon dioxide gas molecules from the air.
A student says that a tree gets most of its mass through a series of chemical reactions that starts with a gas in the air and then makes the solid wood of the tree. Do you agree or disagree with him, and why?
I agree that the solid wood of a tree comes mostly from a gas in the air
- because the molecules that make up the solid wood of trees are made from glucose, and the carbon atoms in glucose come from carbon dioxide molecules in the air.
- because the molecules that make up the solid wood of trees are made from glucose, and the oxygen atoms in glucose come from oxygen molecules in the air.
- because trees grow by trapping gas inside the cells that make up the solid wood of the tree, which causes the wood to expand.
I disagree that the solid wood of a tree comes mostly from a gas in the air
- because a gas could never be massive enough to account for the mass of the solid wood of trees.
- because trees make their own food, which means that new atoms are made inside the trees so that they do not need to take in anything from the air.
- because non-living substances, such as the gasses that make up the air, cannot be transformed into parts of living things.
Pre-Test
Answer Choice |
Overall |
Grades |
Gender |
Primary Language |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 352 |
6–8 n = 352 |
9–12 n = 0 |
Male n = 190 |
Female n = 162 |
English n = 325 |
Other n = 27 |
|
| A. | 23% | 23% | NAN% | 24% | 22% | 24% | 19% |
| B. | 13% | 13% | NAN% | 12% | 14% | 13% | 19% |
| C. | 6% | 6% | NAN% | 5% | 7% | 6% | 0% |
| D. | 14% | 14% | NAN% | 14% | 14% | 13% | 22% |
| E. | 30% | 30% | NAN% | 33% | 28% | 30% | 30% |
| F. | 13% | 13% | NAN% | 12% | 15% | 14% | 11% |
Post-Test
Answer Choice |
Overall |
Grades |
Gender |
Primary Language |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 341 |
6–8 n = 341 |
9–12 n = 0 |
Male n = 180 |
Female n = 161 |
English n = 315 |
Other n = 26 |
|
| A. | 50% | 50% | NAN% | 52% | 47% | 51% | 35% |
| B. | 12% | 12% | NAN% | 9% | 16% | 13% | 8% |
| C. | 4% | 4% | NAN% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 4% |
| D. | 10% | 10% | NAN% | 9% | 11% | 10% | 15% |
| E. | 15% | 15% | NAN% | 16% | 14% | 14% | 19% |
| F. | 9% | 9% | NAN% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 19% |