Consider these two characteristics.
Characteristic 1: a scar due to an injury
Characteristic 2: the shape of a person's face
Which characteristic is a trait that can be inherited?
Explain your answer.

Characteristic 2: The shape of a person's face is a trait that can be inherited.

Explanation:

Inherited traits or phenotypes are those which are naturally and genetically inherited from the dominant parent to the offspring. These are the basic traits with which an individual is born. Most of the inherited characteristics are passed on generation after generations.

To inherit a trait, the phenotypes should be present in the parents naturally by birth and should not be acquired artificially. Few examples of inherited traits include color of the hair, skin or eyes; shape of the face; height of a person; type of hair etc.  

Most of the facial features like shape of the nose or eyes, structure of cheekbones, eye inner corners, area below and above the lips etc  are mostly inherited which also in turn determine the basic shape of the face.

A scar due to an injury happens accidentally and mostly may not be a permanent feature. This feature will not be passed on to the next generation.

Only characteristics that are coded for by genes can be inherited. The shape of a person's face is inherited because this characteristic is coded for by genes. Characteristics that are due to environmental factors cannot be inherited. A scar due to an injury cannot be inherited because this characteristic is a result of an environmental factor.

"a scientist studying a whale and its surroundings would need to understand the structure of atoms in case something was negatively affecting the whale or its surroundings."

explanation:

this was from the link provided:

regents of the university of california v. bakke, 438 u.s. 265 (1978), was a landmark decision by the supreme court of the united states. it upheld affirmative action, allowing race to be one of several factors in college admission policy.