Name
Date
Chapter Test
A
Class
CHAPTER 14
The History of Life
Part A: Multiple Choice
In the space at the left, write the letter of the term or phrase that best answers each question.
1. Which is the approximate age of Earth?
A. 4.5 thousand years
B. 4.5 million years
C. 4.5 billion years
D. 4.5 trillion years
2. Which gas most likely was not part of Earth’s early atmosphere?
A. carbon dioxide
B. hydrogen cyanide
C. nitrogen
D. oxygen
3. Which describes the idea of spontaneous generation?
A. genetic information passing from parents to an offspring
B. life arising from nonlife
C. nonliving things becoming alive
D. the evolution of the first cells from organic molecules
Part B: Matching
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Write the letter of the correct era on the line next to its description. Answers may be used
only once.
Unit 4
1. Earth forms and the first life forms appear.
A. Cenozoic era
2. Mammals appear.
B. Mesozoic era
3. Humans appear.
C. Precambrian
CHAPTER 14 The History of Life
23
Name
Date
Chapter Test
A
Class
CONTINUED
Part C: Interpreting Graphs and Tables
2ADIOACTIVE$ECAYOF#TO.
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
1. Study the data table above. Infer from the data why
the Moon and Mercury do not have atmospheres, but
Earth and Venus do have atmospheres. Use the term
gravitational field in your answer.
12,104
48.7
Venus
4879
3.3
Mercury
3476
0.7
The Moon
12,756
59.7
Earth
Mass 1023 kg
Space Object
0ERCENTOFREMAINING#
Diameter at
Equator (km)
2OCKAGEYEARS
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
2. Study the graph above. Explain what the graph is describing. Use the terms half-life
and radioactive isotope in your answer.
3. Infer from the data the half-life of the carbon-14 isotope. Explain.
24
The History of Life CHAPTER 14
Unit 4
Name
Chapter Test
Date
A
Class
CONTINUED
Part D: Short Answer
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
1. Compare and contrast mold fossils, cast fossils, and amber fossils.
2. Discuss the endosymbiont theory. Use the terms chloroplast, eukaryote,
mitochondria, and prokaryote in your answer.
Part E: Concept Application
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
1. Infer why scientists rarely discover fossils of ancient jellyfish.
2. Critique the Miller-Urey experiment and other similar experiments. Explain why
scientists use the experiments as evidence that life arose from nonliving materials.
3. Hypothesize why the Miller-Urey experiment and other similar experiments have
not proven that life could have risen from nonliving materials.
Unit 4
CHAPTER 14 The History of Life
25
Name
Date
Chapter Test
B
Class
CHAPTER 14
The History of Life
Part A: Multiple Choice
In the space at the left, write the letter of the term, phrase, or sentence that best answers
each question.
1. Which describes what scientists believe Earth’s appearance was like 4.5 billion years ago?
A. molten rock core with a thin crust on the surface
B. molten rock core with no solid land or oceans
C. one landmass surrounded by a single ocean
D. several continents surrounded by several oceans
2. Which explains why oxygen was absent from Earth’s early atmosphere?
A. Excess heat converted atmospheric oxygen into other gases.
B. Oxygen chemically combined with newly formed rocks.
C. Photosynthesizing organisms such as plants had not yet appeared.
D. Volcanic gases suppressed the natural production of oxygen.
3. Which is the first era of Earth’s history?
A. Cenozoic era
B. Mesozoic era
C. Paleozoic era
D. Precambrian
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
4. Which era of Earth’s history could be named the era of mammals?
A. Cenozoic era
B. Mesozoic era
C. Paleozoic era
D. Precambrian
5. Which is part of the endosymbiont theory?
A. ancient prokaryotes engulfed eukaryotes
B. chloroplasts evolved from prokaryotes
C. engulfed nutrients became mitochondria
D. prokaryotes evolved into eukaryotes
Part B: Matching and Completion
Matching Write the letter of the correct type of fossil on the line next to its description.
Answers may be used only once or not at all.
1. preserved the body parts of a mosquito
A. amber fossil
2. created an impression of an extinct trilobite
B. cast fossil
3. preserved a line formed in wet sand by a dinosaur
dragging its tail
C. mold fossil
D. petrified fossil
4. a tree trunk that had slowly been filled in with minerals
such as calcium
26
The History of Life CHAPTER 14
E. trace fossil
Unit 4
Name
Chapter Test
Date
B
Class
CONTINUED
Completion Write the correct term in the blank to complete each sentence below.
5. A scientist who travels to Argentina to explore a field of newly discovered dinosaur
.
bones is called a(n)
6. A one million-year-old layer of sandstone lying on top of a 1.5 million-year-old layer
.
of granite is an example of the
7. The model that expresses the major geological and biological events during Earth’s
.
history is called the
8. The theory that replaced spontaneous generation as a way of explaining how living
.
things appear is called
Part C: Interpreting Graphs and Tables
2ADIOACTIVE$ECAYOF#TO.
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
1. Study the data table above. Infer from the data which
space objects have atmospheres. Explain your answer
using the term gravitational field in your answer.
12,104
48.7
Venus
4879
3.3
Mercury
3476
0.7
The Moon
12,756
59.7
Earth
Mass 10 kg
Space Object
0ERCENTOFREMAINING#
Diameter at
Equator (km)
23
2OCKAGEYEARS
2. Study the graph above. Explain what the graph is illustrating.
3. Infer why a bone artifact that is thought to be 150,000 years old cannot be dated
using carbon-14 dating. Use the term half-life in your answer.
Unit 4
CHAPTER 14 The History of Life
27
Name
Date
Chapter Test
B
Class
CONTINUED
Part D: Short Answer
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
1. Compare and contrast the work done by paleontologists and biologists.
2. Explain Alexander Oparin’s primordial soup hypothesis.
Part E: Concept Application
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
1. Earth’s history has been marked by mass extinctions during which a large
percentage of species on the planet became extinct. Hypothesize how the history of
Earth’s life would have differed had these mass extinctions never occurred.
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
2. During medieval times, most people believed that frogs emerged from slime
through the process of spontaneous generation. Design an experiment to disprove
this hypothesis.
3. Critique the Miller-Urey experiment and other similar experiments. Hypothesize
why the Miller-Urey experiment and other similar experiments have not proven
that life could have arisen from nonliving materials.
28
The History of Life CHAPTER 14
Unit 4
Name
Date
Chapter Test
C
Class
CHAPTER 14
The History of Life
Part A: Multiple Choice
In the space at the left, write the letter of the term, phrase, or sentence that best completes each
statement or answers each question.
1. Which describes what scientists believe the conditions of Earth were like
4.5 billion years ago?
A. liquid rock with no atmosphere being bombarded with radiation
B. molten planet surrounded by a thick atmosphere of noxious gases
C. thin-rock crust surrounding a molten core with a thin atmosphere
D. volcanic landscape surrounding a molten core with no atmosphere
2. Which was the original source of atmospheric oxygen?
A. autotrophs
B. cooling of Earth’s crust
C. formation of the oceans
D. volcanoes
3. Which type of fossil will reveal the skin color of a 90 million-year-old frog?
A. amber fossil
B. cast fossil
C. mold fossil
D. petrified fossil
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
4. A mass extinction that included the disappearance of all dinosaur species
occurred during the
A. Cenozoic era.
B. Mesozoic era.
C. Paleozoic era.
D. Precambrian.
5. Which promoted the acceptance of spontaneous generation?
A. lack of knowledge of the reproductive processes
B. microscopic observations of microbes
C. misleading experimental evidence
D. superstitious beliefs about living things
6. Which is part of the endosymbiont theory?
A. Autotrophic prokaryotes evolved into mitochondria.
B. Eukaryotes engulfed photosynthesizing prokaryotes.
C. Eukaryotes established symbiotic relationships.
D. Heterotrophic prokaryotes engulfed autotrophs.
Unit 4
CHAPTER 14 The History of Life
29
Name
Date
Chapter Test
C
Class
CONTINUED
Part B: Completion
Write the correct term in the blank to complete each sentence below.
1. Preserved evidence of an organism is called a(n)
.
2. A scientist who tries to describe a Mesozoic ecosystem is called a(n)
.
3. The use of radioactive potassium-40 to date a granite rock fragment is called
.
4. Eras are divided into lengths of time called
.
5. The theory that the continents are drifting on large plates across Earth’s surface
.
is called
6. The scientist who provided evidence against microbial spontaneous generation
.
was
Part C: Interpreting Graphs and Tables
2ADIOACTIVE$ECAYOF#TO.
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
1. Infer Scientists are considering ways to create
a biosphere on Mars. This process is called
2OCKAGEYEARS
terraforming. The first step in terraforming Mars is
creating an atmosphere, but scientists estimate a Martian atmosphere would last
only about ten million years. Using the data in the table above, infer why scientists
believe they can create a temporary atmosphere on Mars.
12,104
48.7
Venus
4879
3.3
Mercury
3476
0.7
The Moon
12,756
59.7
Earth
2. Infer why a bone artifact that is thought to be 150,000 years old cannot be dated
using carbon-14 dating.
30
The History of Life CHAPTER 14
Unit 4
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Mass 10 kg
Space Object
0ERCENTOFREMAINING#
Diameter at
Equator (km)
23
Name
Chapter Test
Date
C
Class
CONTINUED
3. Critique the data in the graph. Consider the basic assumptions that scientists must
make to calculate the approximate age of a bone artifact that is 38,000 years old.
Part D: Short Answer
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
1. Contrast the major forms of life that appeared during the four eras of
Earth’s history.
2. Contrast the ideas of spontaneous generation and biogenesis.
Copyright © Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
3. Explain the relationship between the appearance of prokaryotic autotrophs and the
present-day protection of all living things from harmful solar radiation.
Part E: Concept Application
Write your response to each statement in the space provided.
1. Scientists use fossils to piece together the evolutionary history of Earth’s organisms,
but many transition fossils between two groups of organisms have not been found.
These transition fossils are commonly referred to as missing links. Infer why
scientists have found so few transition fossils.
2. Formulate an analogy between the Law of Superposition and a landfill. Infer how
you could determine the exact age of landfill layers.
Unit 4
CHAPTER 14 The History of Life
31