Double Helix Essay

Commentary Paper

Use the answers you compile to write a 1 page – single spaced, one inch margins paper about the Race for the double helix. You should have at least one paragraph about the pursuit in general and at least one paragraph about your persons involvement in the discovery of the structure.

Commentary Research Part I

Please include the answers to the following questions in the commentary.

1. Describe the major significance of this specific structure?

2. What do Watson & Crick propose are the two major reasons that Pauling’s model does not work?

3. Explain why a triple helix model didn't work to explain DNA structure

4. What is the novel feature of the Watson~Crick Model?

5. How does the sequence of one side of DNA determine the other side?

6. What are Van der Waals forces?

7. Draw a purine. Describe the basic characteristics of this molecule.

8. Draw a pyrimidine. Describe the basic characteristics of this molecule.

9. What is an Angstrom?

10. What kind of bond holds the bases together in the DNA molecule?

11. If you were going to be a research scientist, which person from the film do you think you would be most like?

12. Which do you think should be the goal of a scientist: receiving credit for being the first one to make an important discovery, or sharing your results with others so that the discovery can be made as soon as possible, even if you don't get the credit for it?

13. Do you think that women scientists are still discriminated against the way Rosalind Franklin was in the 1950s?

14. Aside from the direct effects of discrimination against women, please describe other possible consequences of the fact that science has historically been a profession that has been dominated by men, most of whom had above average incomes.

Commentary Research Part II

You need to research one of