UIUC MCB 100 EXAM 1 QUESTIONS AND ACCURATE
ANSWERS
What is the approximate time that microscopes were invented? - Answers - circa 1600s
When were microbes first discovered? - Answers - Mid 1600s
True or false: Animal-associated microbes actually comprise only an insignificant
fraction of the global microbial population. - Answers - True!
True or false: Harmful interactions are frequent relative to benign/beneficial
relationships between bacteria and humans. - Answers - False: They are rare!
True or false: Not only are microbes responsible for the air we breathe and the ability to
breathe it, but they are actually responsible for supplying >50% of the world's oxygen
through photosynthesis by cyanobacteria and chlorophyll-containing phytoplankton. -
Answers - True
______________ is a process for experimentation that is used to conduct scientific
inquiry. - Answers - Scientific method
When using the scientific method, we seek experimental evidence to test what we think
which is usually referred to as a __________ or _____________. - Answers -
hypothesis or model
Who (and when) was the first to observe microbes under a microscope? - Answers -
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1676)
What did Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first call the microorganisms that he observed? -
Answers - "Animalcules"
What leads to a hypothesis? - Answers - Observations
______________ proposes that microorganisms are the cause of many diseases. -
Answers - Germ Theory
Who (and when) proposed that epidemic diseases were caused by transferable tiny
particles or "tinder" that could transmit infection by contact? - Answers - Girolamo
Fracastoro (1545)
Who (and when) discovered that muscardine disease of silkworms was caused by living
parasitic organism (a fungus) and later proposed that human diseases were also
caused by living organisms? - Answers - Agostino Bassi (1807)
, Note: proposal of human disease causation in 1884
Who (and when) developed the concept of miasma, or "bad air," which was the early
germ theory that living organisms caused infectious diseases? - Answers - Friedrich
Henle (1840)
Name the three people that were known for the beginning of the Germ Theory of
Disease. - Answers - Girolamo Fracastoro
Agostino Bassi
Friedrich Henle
Name three scientists who were considered to make breakthroughs on Germ Theory of
Disease. - Answers - Ignaz Semmelweis
John Snow
Louis Pasteur
Who (and when) made the connection between the lack of handwashing and child birth
fever. He tested the theory by making doctors wash their hands with chlorinated lime
water which reduced mortality from 18% to 2%? - Answers - Ignaz Semmelweis (1847)
Who (and when) traced the source of a cholera outbreak in London to contaminated
water obtained from a particular well, which was the geographical center of the
outbreak? - Answers - John Snow (1854)
Who conducted the first experiments demonstrating that fermentation and growth of
microbes in nutrient broth did not proceed by spontaneous generation or by miasma
(two of the predominant theories at the time)? - Answers - Louis Pasteur
When was the process of pasteurization invented by Louis Pasteur? - Answers - 1862
Define the Scientific Method. - Answers - A process for experimentation that is used to
conduct scientific inquiry.
What is Germ Theory? - Answers - A proposition that microorganisms are the cause of
many diseases.
__________________ is the ability to distinguish two points that are close together. The
better it is, the better two nearby objects are distinguished from one another. - Answers
- Resolution (resolving power)
Note: Different types of microscopes have different resolving powers.
Do electron microscopes have high or low resolution? - Answers - High resolution for
small volume of microbes
Do light microscopes have high or low resolution? - Answers - low resolution
ANSWERS
What is the approximate time that microscopes were invented? - Answers - circa 1600s
When were microbes first discovered? - Answers - Mid 1600s
True or false: Animal-associated microbes actually comprise only an insignificant
fraction of the global microbial population. - Answers - True!
True or false: Harmful interactions are frequent relative to benign/beneficial
relationships between bacteria and humans. - Answers - False: They are rare!
True or false: Not only are microbes responsible for the air we breathe and the ability to
breathe it, but they are actually responsible for supplying >50% of the world's oxygen
through photosynthesis by cyanobacteria and chlorophyll-containing phytoplankton. -
Answers - True
______________ is a process for experimentation that is used to conduct scientific
inquiry. - Answers - Scientific method
When using the scientific method, we seek experimental evidence to test what we think
which is usually referred to as a __________ or _____________. - Answers -
hypothesis or model
Who (and when) was the first to observe microbes under a microscope? - Answers -
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1676)
What did Antonie van Leeuwenhoek first call the microorganisms that he observed? -
Answers - "Animalcules"
What leads to a hypothesis? - Answers - Observations
______________ proposes that microorganisms are the cause of many diseases. -
Answers - Germ Theory
Who (and when) proposed that epidemic diseases were caused by transferable tiny
particles or "tinder" that could transmit infection by contact? - Answers - Girolamo
Fracastoro (1545)
Who (and when) discovered that muscardine disease of silkworms was caused by living
parasitic organism (a fungus) and later proposed that human diseases were also
caused by living organisms? - Answers - Agostino Bassi (1807)
, Note: proposal of human disease causation in 1884
Who (and when) developed the concept of miasma, or "bad air," which was the early
germ theory that living organisms caused infectious diseases? - Answers - Friedrich
Henle (1840)
Name the three people that were known for the beginning of the Germ Theory of
Disease. - Answers - Girolamo Fracastoro
Agostino Bassi
Friedrich Henle
Name three scientists who were considered to make breakthroughs on Germ Theory of
Disease. - Answers - Ignaz Semmelweis
John Snow
Louis Pasteur
Who (and when) made the connection between the lack of handwashing and child birth
fever. He tested the theory by making doctors wash their hands with chlorinated lime
water which reduced mortality from 18% to 2%? - Answers - Ignaz Semmelweis (1847)
Who (and when) traced the source of a cholera outbreak in London to contaminated
water obtained from a particular well, which was the geographical center of the
outbreak? - Answers - John Snow (1854)
Who conducted the first experiments demonstrating that fermentation and growth of
microbes in nutrient broth did not proceed by spontaneous generation or by miasma
(two of the predominant theories at the time)? - Answers - Louis Pasteur
When was the process of pasteurization invented by Louis Pasteur? - Answers - 1862
Define the Scientific Method. - Answers - A process for experimentation that is used to
conduct scientific inquiry.
What is Germ Theory? - Answers - A proposition that microorganisms are the cause of
many diseases.
__________________ is the ability to distinguish two points that are close together. The
better it is, the better two nearby objects are distinguished from one another. - Answers
- Resolution (resolving power)
Note: Different types of microscopes have different resolving powers.
Do electron microscopes have high or low resolution? - Answers - High resolution for
small volume of microbes
Do light microscopes have high or low resolution? - Answers - low resolution
