Question

Before Mendel's work, the commonly held belief was that __________.

a) the offspring of two parents received traits from only the mother

b) the offspring of two parents received traits from only the father

c) the offspring of two parents received a blend of traits from the parents

d) the offspring of two parents received no traits from the parents

Answer 1

I think I remember hearing from my biology teacher about this and it was b

Answer 2

Hi, it's C. Before Mendel's study, people believed the trait of an offspring was a blended trait that derived from the parents (it's like play doh, when you blend red with yellow, you'll get orange) but Mendel has showed that t he trait wasn't "blended" in. He crossed a purple with a white flower (where Purple is a dominant trait and White is recessive.) the recessive trait was masked by the dominant trait. So the result is he had all Purple flower for the F1 generation. But the recessive trait will show at the F2 generation when he crossed the 2 Purple flowers together. The probability to get white flower now is 1/4 (or 1:3 ratio <1 white, 3 purple). The white came out exactly pure white. Therefore, Mendel proved that trait of an offspring isn't blended.
Hope that helps

Answer 3

Thank you for your answer Char, and 4 the evidence as well.

Answer 4

Your welcome :) I'm glad that helps :)