Grade Seven
Science Content Standards.
Focus on Life Science
Cell Biology
1. All living organisms are composed of cells, from just one to many trillions, whose details usually are visible only through a microscope. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know cells function similarly in all living organisms.
b. Students know the characteristics that distinguish plant cells from animal cells, including chloroplasts and cell walls.
c. Students know the nucleus is the repository for genetic information in plant and animal cells.
d. Students know that mitochondria liberate energy for the work that cells do and that chloroplasts capture sunlight energy for photosynthesis.
e. Students know cells divide to increase their numbers through a process of mitosis, which results in two daughter cells with identical sets of chromosomes.
f. Students know that as multicellular organisms develop, their cells differentiate.
Genetics
2. A typical cell of any organism contains genetic instructions that specify its traits. Those traits may be modified by environmental influences. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know the differences between the life cycles and reproduction methods of sexual and asexual organisms.
b. Students know sexual reproduction produces offspring that inherit half their genes from each parent.
c. Students know an inherited trait can be determined by one or more genes.
d. Students know plant and animal cells contain many thousands of different genes and typically have two copies of every gene. The two copies (or alleles) of the gene may or may not be identical, and one may be dominant in determining the phenotype while the other is recessive.
e. Students know DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the genetic material of living organisms and is located in the chromosomes of each cell.
Evolution
3. Biological evolution accounts for the diversity of species developed through gradual processes over many generations. As a basis for understanding this concept:
1. Students know both genetic variation and environmental factors are causes of evolution and diversity of organisms.
2. Students know the reasoning used by Charles Darwin in reaching his conclusion that natural selection is the mechanism of evolution.
3. Students know how independent lines of evidence from geology, fossils, and comparative anatomy provide the bases for the theory of evolution.
4. Students know how to construct a simple branching diagram to classify living groups of organisms by shared derived characteristics and how to expand the diagram to include fossil organisms.
5. Students know that extinction of a species occurs when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are insufficient for its survival.
Earth and Life History (Earth Sciences)
4. Evidence from rocks allows us to understand the evolution of life on Earth. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know Earth processes today are similar to those that occurred in the past and slow geologic processes have large cumulative effects over long periods of time.
b. Students know the history of life on Earth has been disrupted by major catastrophic events, such as major volcanic eruptions or the impacts of asteroids.
c. Students know that the rock cycle includes the formation of new sediment and rocks and that rocks are often found in layers, with the oldest generally on the bottom.
d. Students know that evidence from geologic layers and radioactive dating indicates Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old and that life on this planet has existed for more than 3 billion years.
e. Students know fossils provide evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed.
f. Students know how movements of Earth's continental and oceanic plates through time, with associated changes in climate and geographic connections, have affected the past and present distribution of organisms.
g. Students know how to explain significant developments and extinctions of plant and animal life on the geologic time scale.
5. Structure and Function in Living Systems
5. The anatomy and physiology of plants and animals illustrate the complementary nature of structure and function. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know plants and animals have levels of organization for structure and function, including cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and the whole organism.
b. Students know organ systems function because of the contributions of individual organs, tissues, and cells. The failure of any part can affect the entire system.
c. Students know how bones and muscles work together to provide a structural framework for movement.
d. Students know how the reproductive organs of the human female and male generate eggs and sperm and how sexual activity may lead to fertilization and pregnancy.
e. Students know the function of the umbilicus and placenta during pregnancy.
f. Students know the structures and processes by which flowering plants generate pollen, ovules, seeds, and fruit.
g. Students know how to relate the structures of the eye and ear to their functions.
Physical Principles in Living Systems (Physical Sciences)
6. Physical principles underlie biological structures and functions. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know visible light is a small band within a very broad electromagnetic spectrum.
b. Students know that for an object to be seen, light emitted by or scattered from it must be detected by the eye.
c. Students know light travels in straight lines if the medium it travels through does not change.
d. Students know how simple lenses are used in a magnifying glass, the eye, a camera, a telescope, and a microscope.
e. Students know that white light is a mixture of many wavelengths (colors) and that retinal cells react differently to different wavelengths.
f. Students know light can be reflected, refracted, transmitted, and absorbed by matter.
g. Students know the angle of reflection of a light beam is equal to the angle of incidence.
h. Students know how to compare joints in the body (wrist, shoulder, thigh) with structures used in machines and simple devices (hinge, ball-and-socket, and sliding joints).
i. Students know how levers confer mechanical advantage and how the application of this principle applies to the musculoskeletal system.
j. Students know that contractions of the heart generate blood pressure and that heart valves prevent back flow of blood in the circulatory system.
Investigation and Experimentation
7. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
a. Select and use appropriate tools and technology (including calculators, computers, balances, spring scales, microscopes, and binoculars) to perform tests, collect data, and display data.
b. Use a variety of print and electronic resources (including the World Wide Web) to collect information and evidence as part of a research project.
c. Communicate the logical connection among hypotheses, science concepts, tests conducted, data collected, and conclusions drawn from the scientific evidence.
d. Construct scale models, maps, and appropriately labeled diagrams to communicate scientific knowledge (e.g., motion of Earth's plates and cell structure).
e. Communicate the steps and results from an investigation in written reports and oral presentations.
Grade Eight
Science Content Standards.
Focus on Physical Science
Motion
1. The velocity of an object is the rate of change of its position. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know position is defined in relation to some choice of a standard reference point and a set of reference directions.
b. Students know that average speed is the total distance traveled divided by the total time elapsed and that the speed of an object along the path traveled can vary.
c. Students know how to solve problems involving distance, time, and average speed.
d. Students know the velocity of an object must be described by specifying both the direction and the speed of the object.
e. Students know changes in velocity may be due to changes in speed, direction, or both.
f. Students know how to interpret graphs of position versus time and graphs of speed versus time for motion in a single direction.
Forces
2. Unbalanced forces cause changes in velocity. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know a force has both direction and magnitude.
b. Students know when an object is subject to two or more forces at once, the result is the cumulative effect of all the forces.
c. Students know when the forces on an object are balanced, the motion of the object does not change.
d. Students know how to identify separately the two or more forces that are acting on a single static object, including gravity, elastic forces due to tension or compression in matter, and friction.
e. Students know that when the forces on an object are unbalanced, the object will change its velocity (that is, it will speed up, slow down, or change direction).
f. Students know the greater the mass of an object, the more force is needed to achieve the same rate of change in motion.
g. Students know the role of gravity in forming and maintaining the shapes of planets, stars, and the solar system.
Structure of Matter
3. Each of the more than 100 elements of matter has distinct properties and a distinct atomic structure. All forms of matter are composed of one or more of the elements. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know the structure of the atom and know it is composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons.
b. Students know that compounds are formed by combining two or more different elements and that compounds have properties that are different from their constituent elements.
c. Students know atoms and molecules form solids by building up repeating patterns, such as the crystal structure of NaCl or long-chain polymers.
d. Students know the states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) depend on molecular motion.
e. Students know that in solids the atoms are closely locked in position and can only vibrate; in liquids the atoms and molecules are more loosely connected and can collide with and move past one another; and in gases the atoms and molecules are free to move independently, colliding frequently.
f. Students know how to use the periodic table to identify elements in simple compounds.
Earth in the Solar System (Earth Sciences)
4. The structure and composition of the universe can be learned from studying stars and galaxies and their evolution. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know galaxies are clusters of billions of stars and may have different shapes.
b. Students know that the Sun is one of many stars in the Milky Way galaxy and that stars may differ in size, temperature, and color.
c. Students know how to use astronomical units and light years as measures of distances between the Sun, stars, and Earth.
d. Students know that stars are the source of light for all bright objects in outer space and that the Moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight, not by their own light.
e. Students know the appearance, general composition, relative position and size, and motion of objects in the solar system, including planets, planetary satellites, comets, and asteroids.
Reactions
5. Chemical reactions are processes in which atoms are rearranged into different combinations of molecules. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know reactant atoms and molecules interact to form products with different chemical properties.
b. Students know the idea of atoms explains the conservation of matter: In chemical reactions the number of atoms stays the same no matter how they are arranged, so their total mass stays the same.
c. Students know chemical reactions usually liberate heat or absorb heat.
d. Students know physical processes include freezing and boiling, in which a material changes form with no chemical reaction.
e. Students know how to determine whether a solution is acidic, basic, or neutral.
Chemistry of Living Systems (Life Sciences)
6. Principles of chemistry underlie the functioning of biological systems. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know that carbon, because of its ability to combine in many ways with itself and other elements, has a central role in the chemistry of living organisms.
b. Students know that living organisms are made of molecules consisting largely of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur.
c. Students know that living organisms have many different kinds of molecules, including small ones, such as water and salt, and very large ones, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and DNA.
Periodic Table
7. The organization of the periodic table is based on the properties of the elements and reflects the structure of atoms. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to identify regions corresponding to metals, nonmetals, and inert gases.
b. Students know each element has a specific number of protons in the nucleus (the atomic number) and each isotope of the element has a different but specific number of neutrons in the nucleus.
c. Students know substances can be classified by their properties, including their melting temperature, density, hardness, and thermal and electrical conductivity.
Density and Buoyancy
8. All objects experience a buoyant force when immersed in a fluid. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know density is mass per unit volume.
b. Students know how to calculate the density of substances (regular and irregular solids and liquids) from measurements of mass and volume.
c. Students know the buoyant force on an object in a fluid is an upward force equal to the weight of the fluid the object has displaced.
d. Students know how to predict whether an object will float or sink.
Investigation and Experimentation
9. Scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations. As a basis for understanding this concept and addressing the content in the other three strands, students should develop their own questions and perform investigations. Students will:
a. Plan and conduct a scientific investigation to test a hypothesis.
b. Evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of data.
c. Distinguish between variable and controlled parameters in a test.
d. Recognize the slope of the linear graph as the constant in the relationship y=kx and apply this principle in interpreting graphs constructed from data.
e. Construct appropriate graphs from data and develop quantitative statements about the relationships between variables.
f. Apply simple mathematic relationships to determine a missing quantity in a mathematic expression, given the two remaining terms (including speed = distance/time, density = mass/volume, force = pressure × area, volume = area × height).
g. Distinguish between linear and nonlinear relationships on a graph of data.
Physics - Grades Nine Through Twelve
Science Content Standards.
Standards that all students are expected to achieve in the course of their studies are unmarked.
Standards that all students should have the opportunity to learn are marked with an asterisk (*).
Motion and Forces
1. Newton's laws predict the motion of most objects. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to solve problems that involve constant speed and average speed.
b. Students know that when forces are balanced, no acceleration occurs; thus an object continues to move at a constant speed or stays at rest (Newton's first law).
c. Students know how to apply the law F=ma to solve one-dimensional motion problems that involve constant forces (Newton's second law).
d. Students know that when one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object always exerts a force of equal magnitude and in the opposite direction (Newton's third law).
e. Students know the relationship between the universal law of gravitation and the effect of gravity on an object at the surface of Earth.
f. Students know applying a force to an object perpendicular to the direction of its motion causes the object to change direction but not speed (e.g., Earth's gravitational force causes a satellite in a circular orbit to change direction but not speed).
g. Students know circular motion requires the application of a constant force directed toward the center of the circle.
h. * Students know Newton's laws are not exact but provide very good approximations unless an object is moving close to the speed of light or is small enough that quantum effects are important.
i. * Students know how to solve two-dimensional trajectory problems.
j. * Students know how to resolve two-dimensional vectors into their components and calculate the magnitude and direction of a vector from its components.
k. * Students know how to solve two-dimensional problems involving balanced forces (statics).
l. * Students know how to solve problems in circular motion by using the formula for centripetal acceleration in the following form: a=v2/r.
m. * Students know how to solve problems involving the forces between two electric charges at a distance (Coulomb's law) or the forces between two masses at a distance (universal gravitation).
Conservation of Energy and Momentum
2. The laws of conservation of energy and momentum provide a way to predict and describe the movement of objects. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to calculate kinetic energy by using the formula E=(1/2)mv2 .
b. Students know how to calculate changes in gravitational potential energy near Earth by using the formula (change in potential energy) =mgh (h is the change in the elevation).
c. Students know how to solve problems involving conservation of energy in simple systems, such as falling objects.
d. Students know how to calculate momentum as the product mv.
e. Students know momentum is a separately conserved quantity different from energy.
f. Students know an unbalanced force on an object produces a change in its momentum.
g. Students know how to solve problems involving elastic and inelastic collisions in one dimension by using the principles of conservation of momentum and energy.
h. * Students know how to solve problems involving conservation of energy in simple systems with various sources of potential energy, such as capacitors and springs.
Heat and Thermodynamics
3. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, although in many processes energy is transferred to the environment as heat. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know heat flow and work are two forms of energy transfer between systems.
b. Students know that the work done by a heat engine that is working in a cycle is the difference between the heat flow into the engine at high temperature and the heat flow out at a lower temperature (first law of thermodynamics) and that this is an example of the law of conservation of energy.
c. Students know the internal energy of an object includes the energy of random motion of the object's atoms and molecules, often referred to as thermal energy. The greater the temperature of the object, the greater the energy of motion of the atoms and molecules that make up the object.
d. Students know that most processes tend to decrease the order of a system over time and that energy levels are eventually distributed uniformly.
e. Students know that entropy is a quantity that measures the order or disorder of a system and that this quantity is larger for a more disordered system.
f. * Students know the statement "Entropy tends to increase" is a law of statistical probability that governs all closed systems (second law of thermodynamics).
g. * Students know how to solve problems involving heat flow, work, and efficiency in a heat engine and know that all real engines lose some heat to their surroundings.
Waves
4. Waves have characteristic properties that do not depend on the type of wave. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know waves carry energy from one place to another.
b. Students know how to identify transverse and longitudinal waves in mechanical media, such as springs and ropes, and on the earth (seismic waves).
c. Students know how to solve problems involving wavelength, frequency, and wave speed.
d. Students know sound is a longitudinal wave whose speed depends on the properties of the medium in which it propagates.
e. Students know radio waves, light, and X-rays are different wavelength bands in the spectrum of electromagnetic waves whose speed in a vacuum is approximately 3×108 m/s (186,000 miles/second).
f. Students know how to identify the characteristic properties of waves: interference (beats), diffraction, refraction, Doppler effect, and polarization.
Electric and Magnetic Phenomena
5. Electric and magnetic phenomena are related and have many practical applications. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to predict the voltage or current in simple direct current (DC) electric circuits constructed from batteries, wires, resistors, and capacitors.
b. Students know how to solve problems involving Ohm's law.
c. Students know any resistive element in a DC circuit dissipates energy, which heats the resistor. Students can calculate the power (rate of energy dissipation) in any resistive circuit element by using the formula Power = IR (potential difference) × I (current) = I2R.
d. Students know the properties of transistors and the role of transistors in electric circuits.
e. Students know charged particles are sources of electric fields and are subject to the forces of the electric fields from other charges.
f. Students know magnetic materials and electric currents (moving electric charges) are sources of magnetic fields and are subject to forces arising from the magnetic fields of other sources.
g. Students know how to determine the direction of a magnetic field produced by a current flowing in a straight wire or in a coil.
h. Students know changing magnetic fields produce electric fields, thereby inducing currents in nearby conductors.
i. Students know plasmas, the fourth state of matter, contain ions or free electrons or both and conduct electricity.
j. * Students know electric and magnetic fields contain energy and act as vector force fields.
k. * Students know the force on a charged particle in an electric field is qE, where E is the electric field at the position of the particle and q is the charge of the particle.
l. * Students know how to calculate the electric field resulting from a point charge.
m. * Students know static electric fields have as their source some arrangement of electric charges.
n. * Students know the magnitude of the force on a moving particle (with charge q) in a magnetic field is qvB sin(a), where a is the angle between v and B (v and B are the magnitudes of vectors v and B, respectively), and students use the right-hand rule to find the direction of this force.
o. * Students know how to apply the concepts of electrical and gravitational potential energy to solve problems involving conservation of energy.
Chemistry - Grades Nine Through Twelve
Science Content Standards.
Standards that all students are expected to achieve in the course of their studies are unmarked.
Standards that all students should have the opportunity to learn are marked with an asterisk (*).
Atomic and Molecular Structure
1. The periodic table displays the elements in increasing atomic number and shows how periodicity of the physical and chemical properties of the elements relates to atomic structure. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to relate the position of an element in the periodic table to its atomic number and atomic mass.
b. Students know how to use the periodic table to identify metals, semimetals, nonmetals, and halogens.
c. Students know how to use the periodic table to identify alkali metals, alkaline earth metals and transition metals, trends in ionization energy, electronegativity, and the relative sizes of ions and atoms.
d. Students know how to use the periodic table to determine the number of electrons available for bonding.
e. Students know the nucleus of the atom is much smaller than the atom yet contains most of its mass.
f. * Students know how to use the periodic table to identify the lanthanide, actinide, and transactinide elements and know that the transuranium elements were synthesized and identified in laboratory experiments through the use of nuclear accelerators.
g. * Students know how to relate the position of an element in the periodic table to its quantum electron configuration and to its reactivity with other elements in the table.
h. * Students know the experimental basis for Thomson's discovery of the electron, Rutherford's nuclear atom, Millikan's oil drop experiment, and Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect.
i. * Students know the experimental basis for the development of the quantum theory of atomic structure and the historical importance of the Bohr model of the atom.
j. * Students know that spectral lines are the result of transitions of electrons between energy levels and that these lines correspond to photons with a frequency related to the energy spacing between levels by using Planck's relationship (E = hv).
Chemical Bonds
2. Biological, chemical, and physical properties of matter result from the ability of atoms to form bonds from electrostatic forces between electrons and protons and between atoms and molecules. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know atoms combine to form molecules by sharing electrons to form covalent or metallic bonds or by exchanging electrons to form ionic bonds.
b. Students know chemical bonds between atoms in molecules such as H2 , CH4 , NH3 , H2 CCH2 , N2 , Cl2 , and many large biological molecules are covalent.
c. Students know salt crystals, such as NaCl, are repeating patterns of positive and negative ions held together by electrostatic attraction.
d. Students know the atoms and molecules in liquids move in a random pattern relative to one another because the intermolecular forces are too weak to hold the atoms or molecules in a solid form.
e. Students know how to draw Lewis dot structures.
f. * Students know how to predict the shape of simple molecules and their polarity from Lewis dot structures.
g. * Students know how electronegativity and ionization energy relate to bond formation.
h. * Students know how to identify solids and liquids held together by van der Waals forces or hydrogen bonding and relate these forces to volatility and boiling/ melting point temperatures.
Conservation of Matter and Stoichiometry
3. The conservation of atoms in chemical reactions leads to the principle of conservation of matter and the ability to calculate the mass of products and reactants. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to describe chemical reactions by writing balanced equations.
b. Students know the quantity one mole is set by defining one mole of carbon 12 atoms to have a mass of exactly 12 grams.
c. Students know one mole equals 6.02x1023particles (atoms or molecules).
d. Students know how to determine the molar mass of a molecule from its chemical formula and a table of atomic masses and how to convert the mass of a molecular substance to moles, number of particles, or volume of gas at standard temperature and pressure.
e. Students know how to calculate the masses of reactants and products in a chemical reaction from the mass of one of the reactants or products and the relevant atomic masses.
f. * Students know how to calculate percent yield in a chemical reaction.
g. * Students know how to identify reactions that involve oxidation and reduction and how to balance oxidation-reduction reactions.
Gases and Their Properties
4. The kinetic molecular theory describes the motion of atoms and molecules and explains the properties of gases. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know the random motion of molecules and their collisions with a surface create the observable pressure on that surface.
b. Students know the random motion of molecules explains the diffusion of gases.
c. Students know how to apply the gas laws to relations between the pressure, temperature, and volume of any amount of an ideal gas or any mixture of ideal gases.
d. Students know the values and meanings of standard temperature and pressure (STP).
e. Students know how to convert between the Celsius and Kelvin temperature scales.
f. Students know there is no temperature lower than 0 Kelvin.
g. * Students know the kinetic theory of gases relates the absolute temperature of a gas to the average kinetic energy of its molecules or atoms.
h. * Students know how to solve problems by using the ideal gas law in the form PV = nRT.
i. * Students know how to apply Dalton's law of partial pressures to describe the composition of gases and Graham's law to predict diffusion of gases.
Acids and Bases
5. Acids, bases, and salts are three classes of compounds that form ions in water solutions. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know the observable properties of acids, bases, and salt solutions.
b. Students know acids are hydrogen-ion-donating and bases are hydrogen-ion-accepting substances.
c. Students know strong acids and bases fully dissociate and weak acids and bases partially dissociate.
d. Students know how to use the pH scale to characterize acid and base solutions.
e. * Students know the Arrhenius, Brønsted-Lowry, and Lewis acid-base definitions.
f. * Students know how to calculate pH from the hydrogen-ion concentration.
g. * Students know buffers stabilize pH in acid-base reactions.
Solutions
6. Solutions are homogeneous mixtures of two or more substances. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know the definitions of solute and solvent.
b. Students know how to describe the dissolving process at the molecular level by using the concept of random molecular motion.
c. Students know temperature, pressure, and surface area affect the dissolving process.
d. Students know how to calculate the concentration of a solute in terms of grams per liter, molarity, parts per million, and percent composition.
e. * Students know the relationship between the molality of a solute in a solution and the solution's depressed freezing point or elevated boiling point.
f. * Students know how molecules in a solution are separated or purified by the methods of chromatography and distillation.
Chemical Thermodynamics
7. Energy is exchanged or transformed in all chemical reactions and physical changes of matter. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to describe temperature and heat flow in terms of the motion of molecules (or atoms).
b. Students know chemical processes can either release (exothermic) or absorb (endothermic) thermal energy.
c. Students know energy is released when a material condenses or freezes and is absorbed when a material evaporates or melts.
d. Students know how to solve problems involving heat flow and temperature changes, using known values of specific heat and latent heat of phase change.
e. * Students know how to apply Hess's law to calculate enthalpy change in a reaction.
f. * Students know how to use the Gibbs free energy equation to determine whether a reaction would be spontaneous.
Reaction Rates
8. Chemical reaction rates depend on factors that influence the frequency of collision of reactant molecules. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know the rate of reaction is the decrease in concentration of reactants or the increase in concentration of products with time.
b. Students know how reaction rates depend on such factors as concentration, temperature, and pressure.
c. Students know the role a catalyst plays in increasing the reaction rate.
d. * Students know the definition and role of activation energy in a chemical reaction.
Chemical Equilibrium
9. Chemical equilibrium is a dynamic process at the molecular level. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know how to use Le Chatelier's principle to predict the effect of changes in concentration, temperature, and pressure.
b. Students know equilibrium is established when forward and reverse reaction rates are equal.
c. * Students know how to write and calculate an equilibrium constant expression for a reaction.
Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry
10. The bonding characteristics of carbon allow the formation of many different organic molecules of varied sizes, shapes, and chemical properties and provide the biochemical basis of life. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know large molecules (polymers), such as proteins, nucleic acids, and starch, are formed by repetitive combinations of simple subunits.
b. Students know the bonding characteristics of carbon that result in the formation of a large variety of structures ranging from simple hydrocarbons to complex polymers and biological molecules.
c. Students know amino acids are the building blocks of proteins.
d. * Students know the system for naming the ten simplest linear hydrocarbons and isomers that contain single bonds, simple hydrocarbons with double and triple bonds, and simple molecules that contain a benzene ring.
e. * Students know how to identify the functional groups that form the basis of alcohols, ketones, ethers, amines, esters, aldehydes, and organic acids.
f. * Students know the R-group structure of amino acids and know how they combine to form the polypeptide backbone structure of proteins.
Nuclear Processes
11. Nuclear processes are those in which an atomic nucleus changes, including radioactive decay of naturally occurring and human-made isotopes, nuclear fission, and nuclear fusion. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know protons and neutrons in the nucleus are held together by nuclear forces that overcome the electromagnetic repulsion between the protons.
b. Students know the energy release per gram of material is much larger in nuclear fusion or fission reactions than in chemical reactions. The change in mass (calculated by E = mc2 ) is small but significant in nuclear reactions.
c. Students know some naturally occurring isotopes of elements are radioactive, as are isotopes formed in nuclear reactions.
d. Students know the three most common forms of radioactive decay (alpha, beta, and gamma) and know how the nucleus changes in each type of decay.
e. Students know alpha, beta, and gamma radiation produce different amounts and kinds of damage in matter and have different penetrations.
f. * Students know how to calculate the amount of a radioactive substance remaining after an integral number of half-lives have passed.
g. * Students know protons and neutrons have substructures and consist of particles called quarks.
