Question

How are the principles of heredity related to chance?

Answer 1

First let me say that this is a bio question...

Heredity is related to chance due to the fact that each diploid cell has two copies of the same chromosome, each with one allele. Sex cells are haploid, which means they contain only one chromosome, and therefor have only one allele. Which allele each haploid chromosome has is a matter of chance, resulting from the crossing-over process in meiosis. Since there are two copies of each gene in a diploid cell, meiosis produces cells, 50% of which have one allele, 50% of the other. Which haploid sex cell finds the other in sexual combination and produces a diploid zygote is therefor a matter of chance.

Example: sperm and eggs
50% of the sperm have one allele, 50% have the other.
50% of eggs have one allele, 50% have the the other.
When sperm and egg combine to produce a zygote there are then 4 different possibilities for the resulting genotype of the diploid chromosome, which are purely dependent on chance.