Microscope lab

In this lab I learned how to use a microscope and then do a test on it so me and my friends chose our own cell and we would focus on it after that we took a test.

Some cool pictures 

On the left is moss. In the middle is asparagus. On the right is a frog egg.

PKU (Phenylketonuria)

1. What enzyme is most commonly defective in people with phenylketonuria?

The enzyme that is the most commonly defective in people with phenylketonuria is enzyme Phenylalanine Hydroxylase.

2. What reaction does this enzyme catalyze? (What is the substrate and what product is produced?)

It causes mental retardation because it changes cells inside the brain.

3. Describe the symptoms of phenylketonuria.

lighter hair and skin a smaller than normal head and the skin has a musty odor.

4. What causes the symptoms of PKU, the lack of a substance or the buildup of one? Explain. 

The causes of the symptoms is that it causes the enzyme to not work properly by mutating the gene.

5. How common is phenylketonuria? How is it treated? 

1 in 10,000 births in caucasians and east asians, 1 in 2,600 in turks, 1 in 4,500 in irish, 1 in 143,000 in japanese, and it is exceedingly rare in africans.

The way PKU is treated is by having a low protein diet as soon as the disorder is diagnosed and stay on that diet as long as possible.

Cited Sources: http://www.ygyh.org
http://www.nspku.org

Pick Your Poison: Ricin

1.) Where is this substance found or produced? It is found in a castor bean 

2.) What kind of substance is it? Powder

3.) What are the specific molecules that it acts upon? It acts upon the cytosol and can inactivate over 1,500 ribosomes per minute and kill the cell.

4.) What are the symptoms of exposure to this substance? 

By ingestion causes vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, low blood pressure, seizures, and liver. 

By inhalation causes difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea, heavy sweating, fluid in lungs and low blood pressure.

5.) How is exposure to this substance treated? If ricin gets on you get rid of your clothes and wash yourself by using large amount of soap and water. Then put away your clothes in a bag using a tong or any other tool then seal it into another bag and the local or state health department will take care if the rest.

Cited sources:  http://www.medicinenet.com/ricin/article.htm
http://poisonousplants.ansci.cornell.edu/toxicagents/ricin.html

Osmosis Lab

Question: What does water do in a osmosis operation?

Procedure: Have two beakers, salt, water, two dialysis tubes, and a weight . Fill one of the beakers with salt and water and one beaker with just water. Grab a dialysis tube and pour salt into it the dialysis tube then grab another dialysis tube and pour water into it. weigh the two dialysis tubes before you put it into the the beaker then put the one with just salt into the beaker that has just water and then the dialysis tube with just water put it into the beaker with salt and water. Then after a day take the two dialysis tubes out of the beakers and weigh them again. The dialysis tube with salt should weigh more than the dialysis tube with just water.

Claims: The dialysis tube with salt weighs more than the one with water because of osmosis.

Evidence: 

Research: Osmosis is when molecules move through a semi permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, in the direction that tends to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides.

Reflection: I learned how osmosis can affect a cell membrane.

Cell membrane

In this lab I chose people into my group and we had to find a picture of a cell-membrane in google images and draw it the reason we did this was so we can understand what a cell-membrane is and learn what can pass through a cell-membrane and what can't go through a cell membrane.

Diffusion and Osmosis Lab

Question: Why couldn't the starch get out?

Procedure: have a beaker, dialysis tube, test-tape (For recording Glucose levels), glucose, and starch, and Iodine. Fill the beaker with water almost at the top of the beaker and add a bit of iodine. Now test the beaker with the test tape and record the color of the mixture. Then grab a dialysis tube and open one side and then tie the bottom next fill it with 15% glucose and 1%starch then test it with the test tape and now tie the top of the bag and put it in the beaker. Next, wait 30minutes or wait for a distinct color change and record the beaker and dialysis tube again with the test tape.

Claims: the reason the starch didn't get out of the dialysis tube because the size of the molecules were too big for it to pass through the tiny pores of the dialysis tube.

Evidence: The before and after pictures 

Research: Diffusion is the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration. Osmosis is the diffusion of water from a hypotonic solution across and selectively permeable membrane.  

Reflection: Now I know that not everything can pass through a membrane.


Hypotonic definition: having a lower osmotic pressure than a particular fluid, typically a body fluid or intracellular fluid.

Permeable definition: (of a material or membrane) allowing liquids or gases to pass through it.

Carbohydrate Lab

Question: what carbohydrates are in certain products?

Procedure: Have any product you want to use and test it but first test if monocacoride polycacoride and dicacoride has Benedict and iodine. Have Benedict, Iodine, Test tubes, and a dropper to first have your products for example a Tic-Tac, Tootsie roll, and a hot cheeto put all 3 things and put it in a separate test tube and grab your dropper and get benidict and pour it into the test tubes after that put the test tubes in a water bath and leave the tubes in there for a few minutes and if it changes color it has benidict. For iodine have the same products and pour iodine in it and if it changes color there is iodine in it.

Claims: Everything has a type of carbohydrate in it.

Evidence:
The picture of the tubes with blue liquid is Benedict and the tubes and it is in a water bath to heat up the Benedict causing it to react and change color, but it only changes if the product has Benedict in it with the red liquid is Iodine and it only changes color when the product has Iodine in it.

Research:

Reflection: If you are eating something right now you might be eating something with benedict or iodine in it or it can be both.

Water lab

Question: What is adhesion and cohesion and why is water sticky?

Procedure: have a penny, water, and a water dropper, drop as much water as you can on the penny until the water over flows. Then for the next experiment have two beakers and a string dip the string in water and grab the beaker filled with water and put one end of the string into the string and same with the other beaker and try to pour all the water into the other beaker by trying to pour it on the string with out spilling anything and the same amount of water should be in the other beaker.

Claims: Water is very sticky 

Evidence: The picture with the pennies is of water droplets stacking on each other.

 The bottom three pictures are of the transferring water from a beaker through a string to another beaker.

Research: (I got this information from http://water.usgs.gov/edu/adhesion.html) The reason why water is so sticky is because of Adhesion and Cohesion. Adhesion is water attracted to substances and                      

Cohesion is water attracted to water. Oxygen and hydrogen are attracted to each other causing water to be in clumps when it is dropped on things.

Reflection: I didn't know water could just flow onto a string and not fall out.

Ph Lab

Question: Tums vs Equate Which Is Better

Procedure:  Grab some Tums with different strengths or type and some Equate with different strengths or type, then have a Ph strips (a tester for Ph) and vinegar smash a Tums and a Equate poor the vinegar into a beaker put the Tums in one beaker stir it and test it with the Ph strips and repeat this with Equate.

Claims: Tums has the highest Ph so the Tums is more basic

Evidence:

Research: The Ph scale shows what is acidic and basic the higher the number the more basic it is and the lower the number the more acidic it is.

Reflection: I was thinking that the name brand would be more neutral but it turned out to be more basic than Equate.

Corn Lab

Question:  If you were to add bugs to your corn then will it cause the corn to grow better?

Procedure: I did all this in http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/virtual_labs/BL_01/BL_01.html what you do is grab the put it in the ECB infestation press Grow then repeat this two more times and this time add in low and then high bug infestation then you would weigh it and compare it to the other corn and compare how the bugs effected the corn then weigh one corn then the other and then add them up and divide it by three and you will get your average and the average will tell you wether or not bugs help it grow better or not. Bt is a bacterium soil that is found worldwide and it creates crystalline proteins that is stomach poisons for some insects so they inject it into the corn to kill off the bugs so they won't destroy the corn.

Claims: Corn with infestation helps corn grow better.

Evidence:






Research:

Reflection:  My thoughts on this experiment were wrong because I thought having a higher infestation will make the corn better but as you can see from my research and evidence my claim was wrong.