MCB 2026 Midterm #1 UPDATED ACTUAL Questions and CORRECT
Answers
Question: What did Leeuwenhoek do?
Correct Answer: First to observe and describe cells in a microscope
Question: What did Hooke discover?
Correct Answer: cells, and CELL THEORY
Question: What did Aristotle contribute to microbiology?
Correct Answer: spontaneous generation
Question: What experiment disproved spontaneous generation?
Correct Answer: Franceso Redi (Maggots in jar) but Lazzaro Spallanzani disproved it (sealed flask)
Question: What was Pasteur's findings?
Correct Answer: The most heated solutions not exposed to air had the least amount of contamination
Question: What is the germ theory of disease?
Correct Answer: microorganisms cause disease
Question: What are Koch's four postulates?
Correct Answer: 1. The organism must always be present. 2. It must be isolated from the host and grown
in pure culture. 3. cells from pure culture of suspected pathogen has to cause sickness in a healthy animal. 4.
Suspected pathogen must be reisolated and shown to be the same as the original.
Question: What is a pure culture?
Correct Answer: cultures composed of cells arising from a single cell.
Question: What did Semmelweis do?
Correct Answer: Recognized proper hand washing techniques
Question: What did Lister do?
Correct Answer: created sterilization techniques to avoid infection (surgery room)
Question: What innovation in scientific knowledge aided Napoleon?
Correct Answer: canning
Question: What are the five I's?
Correct Answer: Inoculation- introduce sample into a medium Incubation- placed in temperature
controlled chambers (20-40°C) Isolation- separating one species from another Inspection- Observe
Identification- Identify
Question: What is a synthetic and non-synthetic (complex) media?
Correct Answer: Synthetic: known chemical composition Non-synthetic: contains chemically undefined
components
Question: What is an enrichment medium?
, Correct Answer: supports growth of a specific group of microorganisms
Question: What is a selective media?
Correct Answer: favors specific microorganism and inhibits others.
Question: What is differential media?
Correct Answer: permits detection of microorganisms with a specific metabolic activity.
Question: What is magnification in a microscope?
Correct Answer: the result of light refraction
Question: What is resolution in a microscope?
Correct Answer: the ability to distinguish two adjacent points as two objects separate.
Question: What is contrast in a microscope?
Correct Answer: the ability to distinguish objects from the background
Question: What does an element's atomic number tell you?
Correct Answer: the number of protons in an atom
Question: What does an element's position in the period table tell you?
Correct Answer: electron configuration
Question: Describe how a streak plate is used to isolate pure culture?
Correct Answer: The inoculum is streaked over the agar surface to "thin out" the bacteria
Question: What are the building blocks of the 4 macromolecules?
Correct Answer: 1. Proteins--Amino Acids 2.Nucleic Acids--- Nucleotides 3. Carbs-- Monosaccharides 4.
Lipids-- Glycerols+ fatty acids
Question: How do you build polymers from monomers?
Correct Answer: dehydration synthesis
Question: How do you turn polymers into monomers?
Correct Answer: hydrolysis (breaks bonds)
Question: What is the function of carbohydrates?
Correct Answer: Mono,Di, and Poly. Provides structural cell wall (Cellulose, Chitin, Peptidoglycan,
Glycocalyx)
Question: What is a peptide?
Correct Answer: short chain of amino acids
Question: What is a polypeptide?
Correct Answer: long chains of amino acids
Question: • What is an "R-group," and how does it relate to how amino acids are classified?
Correct Answer: R-group is what varies
Question: What is the primary structure of a protein?
Answers
Question: What did Leeuwenhoek do?
Correct Answer: First to observe and describe cells in a microscope
Question: What did Hooke discover?
Correct Answer: cells, and CELL THEORY
Question: What did Aristotle contribute to microbiology?
Correct Answer: spontaneous generation
Question: What experiment disproved spontaneous generation?
Correct Answer: Franceso Redi (Maggots in jar) but Lazzaro Spallanzani disproved it (sealed flask)
Question: What was Pasteur's findings?
Correct Answer: The most heated solutions not exposed to air had the least amount of contamination
Question: What is the germ theory of disease?
Correct Answer: microorganisms cause disease
Question: What are Koch's four postulates?
Correct Answer: 1. The organism must always be present. 2. It must be isolated from the host and grown
in pure culture. 3. cells from pure culture of suspected pathogen has to cause sickness in a healthy animal. 4.
Suspected pathogen must be reisolated and shown to be the same as the original.
Question: What is a pure culture?
Correct Answer: cultures composed of cells arising from a single cell.
Question: What did Semmelweis do?
Correct Answer: Recognized proper hand washing techniques
Question: What did Lister do?
Correct Answer: created sterilization techniques to avoid infection (surgery room)
Question: What innovation in scientific knowledge aided Napoleon?
Correct Answer: canning
Question: What are the five I's?
Correct Answer: Inoculation- introduce sample into a medium Incubation- placed in temperature
controlled chambers (20-40°C) Isolation- separating one species from another Inspection- Observe
Identification- Identify
Question: What is a synthetic and non-synthetic (complex) media?
Correct Answer: Synthetic: known chemical composition Non-synthetic: contains chemically undefined
components
Question: What is an enrichment medium?
, Correct Answer: supports growth of a specific group of microorganisms
Question: What is a selective media?
Correct Answer: favors specific microorganism and inhibits others.
Question: What is differential media?
Correct Answer: permits detection of microorganisms with a specific metabolic activity.
Question: What is magnification in a microscope?
Correct Answer: the result of light refraction
Question: What is resolution in a microscope?
Correct Answer: the ability to distinguish two adjacent points as two objects separate.
Question: What is contrast in a microscope?
Correct Answer: the ability to distinguish objects from the background
Question: What does an element's atomic number tell you?
Correct Answer: the number of protons in an atom
Question: What does an element's position in the period table tell you?
Correct Answer: electron configuration
Question: Describe how a streak plate is used to isolate pure culture?
Correct Answer: The inoculum is streaked over the agar surface to "thin out" the bacteria
Question: What are the building blocks of the 4 macromolecules?
Correct Answer: 1. Proteins--Amino Acids 2.Nucleic Acids--- Nucleotides 3. Carbs-- Monosaccharides 4.
Lipids-- Glycerols+ fatty acids
Question: How do you build polymers from monomers?
Correct Answer: dehydration synthesis
Question: How do you turn polymers into monomers?
Correct Answer: hydrolysis (breaks bonds)
Question: What is the function of carbohydrates?
Correct Answer: Mono,Di, and Poly. Provides structural cell wall (Cellulose, Chitin, Peptidoglycan,
Glycocalyx)
Question: What is a peptide?
Correct Answer: short chain of amino acids
Question: What is a polypeptide?
Correct Answer: long chains of amino acids
Question: • What is an "R-group," and how does it relate to how amino acids are classified?
Correct Answer: R-group is what varies
Question: What is the primary structure of a protein?
