Is my Micro prof trolling?

[PicardAndRoll]

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He said in the review he'd ask in the final about a talk that a guest speaker gave one day after class. The question would be, "What is the 2nd most abundant biopolymer in nature?"

I Googled it, it was Chitin. Then actually e-mailed the guest speaker from his university e-mail (Googled him) and asked him, and he said Chitin.

I walked up to his office, asked him, and he said "no".

Wuhhhh? He's foreign, and he gave me a quick "No" and looked at his computer.

Is he trolling? Any biology guys to toss me a bone?

This bonus question is like +1 on my final grade average.

Not the final test, the FINAL grade.

 

[deleted407021]

Keep pressing the issue. Either he is wrong, or Google is.

Stop making so many threads.

With this weird double spaced thing.

 

[terp720]

He said in the review he'd ask in the final about a talk that a guest speaker gave one day after class. The question would be, "What is the 2nd most abundant biopolymer in nature?"

I Googled it, it was Chitin. Then actually e-mailed the guest speaker from his university e-mail (Googled him) and asked him, and he said Chitin.

I walked up to his office, asked him, and he said "no".

Wuhhhh? He's foreign, and he gave me a quick "No" and looked at his computer.

Is he trolling? Any biology guys to toss me a bone?

This bonus question is like +1 on my final grade average.

Not the final test, the FINAL grade.

or just show your prof the email from the guest speaker..

although a quick google search also showed a lot of sources that said "lignin"

 

[PicardAndRoll]

or just show your prof the email from the guest speaker..

although a quick google search also showed a lot of sources that said "lignin"

But I thought that said that lignin was the second most abundant biopolymer in wood, not in nature?

 

[terp720]

But I thought that said that lignin was the second most abundant biopolymer in wood, not in nature?

i saw one that said that..
wikipedia says this "It is one of the most abundant organic polymers on Earth, exceeded only by cellulose." ...which would make it the second most?
IDK! I just typed it into google!

ask your prof about it, and then just show him the email

 

[PicardAndRoll]

Final tomorrow at 8:30 AM

Lol bad prep on my part, I'll admit my faults.

 

[terp720]

Final tomorrow at 8:30 AM

Lol bad prep on my part, I'll admit my faults.

:/
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-84042012000400003
http://www.aseanenvironment.info/abstract/41015744.pdf
I'm getting mixed results..

but... you can still always show the email if you put down chitin and get it wrong?

 

[terp720]

wait.. @PicardAndRoll .. you have a final at 8:30 tomorrow morning and you've made 4 threads within the last 12 hours or less? why are you on SDN!

 

[Oso]

mad props to @terp720 for looking up the **** the OP should have learned days ago.

 

[terp720]

mad props to @terp720 for looking up the **** the OP should have learned days ago.

yeah.. I just realized maybe I shouldn't be doing that given SDN is not a place for homework (and therefore likely extra credit) questions..

 

[hoihaie]

if the question doesnt say "according to guest speaker" then there's no point showing him the email

 

[PicardAndRoll]

wait.. @PicardAndRoll .. you have a final at 8:30 tomorrow morning and you've made 4 threads within the last 12 hours or less? why are you on SDN!

Because it's Micro and micro isn't hard?

 

[terp720]

Because it's Micro and micro isn't hard?

Uhhuhhh... Yet you're worried about getting the extra credit...
Not sure what time zone you're in, but good luck this morning!!

 

[PreciousHamburgers]

Chitin is most definitely the second most abundant polymer in nature (think about the mass of microscopic crustaceans in the ocean, and insects on land). Cellulose would be the most abundant, by far.

 

[mehc012]

Chitin is most definitely the second most abundant polymer in nature (think about the mass of microscopic crustaceans in the ocean, and insects on land). Cellulose would be the most abundant, by far.

Depends...what is your classification for polymer, and how specific are we being? Are we going by mass or number of polymer chains? Cuz you could also go 'polypeptides' if you're going for low specificity, and then the fact that there are a lot of smaller proteins could work in their favor in terms of number, if not mass.

The point being that I hate questions like this, because they're meaningless without specificity.

 

[Patros]

Depends...what is your classification for polymer, and how specific are we being? Are we going by mass or number of polymer chains? Cuz you could also go 'polypeptides' if you're going for low specificity, and then the fact that there are a lot of smaller proteins could work in their favor in terms of number, if not mass.

The point being that I hate questions like this, because they're meaningless without specificity.

I think for a "most abundant" question, the molecule would have to be largely identical between the species you include, like cellulose. Most polypeptides don't count, since their sequences vary between species (like RNA polymerase of mammals would be quite different from RNAP of bacteria). Otherwise, you could just put "DNA" for the most abundant molecule and get maximum trolling points.

How do people come up with these numbers anyway. I mean, actin and tubulin fibers are found in basically all eukaryotes in pretty large quantities, so how do we know that cellulose or chitin, found in certain eukaryotes, is greater than actin, something found in all eukaryotes?

 

[mehc012]

I think for a "most abundant" question, the molecule would have to be largely identical between the species you include, like cellulose. Most polypeptides don't count, since their sequences vary between species (like RNA polymerase of mammals would be quite different from RNAP of bacteria). Otherwise, you could just put "DNA" for the most abundant molecule and get maximum trolling points.

How do people come up with these numbers anyway. I mean, actin and tubulin fibers are found in basically all eukaryotes in pretty large quantities, so how do we know that cellulose or chitin, found in certain eukaryotes, is greater than actin, something found in all eukaryotes?

My basic point was that SO MUCH of this depends on how you define your question...and in this case, the question is very vague. Your example is, perhaps, a better demonstration of the point I was trying to make.
You still have the 'by weight or by number of molecules' issue. Also, for any polymer type situation, the molecules themselves aren't going to be identical (though the monomers may be).