Unit 5 Reflection

This unit was about genetic code. We talked about what DNA is, a nucleic acid and it's function, to keep the special code of what makes you, you (order of nitrogen bases). It's made of three parts, a phosphate group, deoxyribose, and nitrogen base. There are four nitrogen bases, Adenine, Guanine, which are purnies, meaning they have double rings, Thymine, and Cytosine, which are pyrimidines, meaning they have single rings. Adenine joins with Thymine and Guanine join with Cytosine. We also talked about the process of DNA replication. First, an enzyme, helicase, unzips the DNA by breaking the hydrogen bonds that hold the nitrogen bonds together. Second, another enzyme, DNA Polymerase adds matching nucleotides to each strand. The end result is 2 identical DNA molecules. Then we learned about how proteins are made. It starts with DNA and transcription, which happens in the nucleus. First, DNA unzips. Second, RNA Polymerase match spare nucleotides to make an RNA strand. Third, mRNA is produced and leaves nucleus for cytoplasm. In the cytoplasm, translation occurs. mRNA arrives at a ribosome, which reads the mRNA 3 bases, or one codon, at a time and translates DNA language to protein language (T replaced with U). 3 bases, or one codon, makes one amino acid. The end result is a long chain of amino acids, which twist, fold, and combine with other chains to make a protein. After, we learned about mutations. A point mutation changes one or two bases of DNA. There are two types of this mutation, substitution, in which one nucleotide is substituted for another, and frameshift mutation, where there are two types, insertion, an extra base is put in code, and deletion, a base is cut out of the code. Some other mutations we learned about were inversion, when DNA breaks off and bonds in reverse order, and translocation, when parts of a chromosome breaks off and bonds with another chromosome. The last thing we learned about was gene expression and regulation. Gene expression is the process of a gene being used to produce a gene product or phenotype. Gene regulation is the a mechanism used by cells to increase or decrease the expression of a gene, which is done is a series of steps. Let's use the Lac Operon as an example. Bacteria use lactase to break down lactose. When lactose is absent, the repressor molecule, which stops a gene being made, on the gene blocks RNA Polymerase from transcribing the gene. But if lactose is present, the lactose will bond with the repressor protein and make it detach it from the operator, which is the segment of DNA at the start of a gene that prevents or allows RNA from attaching and reading the gene. A promoter is the location on DNA where RNA Polymers attaches and the operon is the whole series of genes used to control the expression of a single gene. Eukarytoic regualtion is a lot more complicated due to several proteins binding before a gene and required for the gene to be expressed. Exons are the sequences that are expressed and introns are the sequences that are cut out. DNA is highly coiled to pack extra info in a very small space. Histones are proteins that DNA coils around and that forms nuclsomes, which weave together to pack more info more tightly. 

Zephyris. "DNA Structure+Key+Labelled." Wikimedia Commons, 26 Apr. 2011, 
     commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DNA_Structure%2BKey%2BLabelled.pn_NoBB.png. 
     Accessed 15 Dec. 2016. 

"Ending Transciption." Study Blue, www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/ 
     chapter-16-transcription-and-translation/deck/4811159. Accessed 15 Dec. 
     2016.

Some strengths I had was understanding mutations and DNA replication easily, while having a hard time with gene expression and regulation, but eventually clearing up any questions I had in class. I want to learn more about eukaryotic regulation and the different types of gene regulation examples. An unanswered question I have is how many mutations does an average human have. I wonder about how complex life is and how everything works together to perform tasks like typing up a paper.   

I have grown as a student by being more open to my group members and asking them clarifying questions when I need to. I also learned to be more organized in my lab work and to try to cut down on how many textbook notes I take, since I wrote a lot of unimportant details earlier in the semester. One thing I wish to work on is my time management skills since it always seems I am running about of time.

Protein Synthesis Lab

To make a protein, mRNA is made from DNA and is transferred to the cytoplasm. The mRNA bonds with a ribosome, which will make the protein. The ribsome reads three bases, or codons, at a time to make an amino acid. The type of amino acid is determined by the codon's sequence of bases. The amino acids are bonded together as more are made and once the ribosome has finished translating the mRNA into amino acids, the amino acids folds up to form a protein. 

Boumphreyfr. "Peptide Syn." Wikimedia Commons, 1 Mar. 2009, 
     commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peptide_syn.png. Accessed 13 Dec. 2016. 

The deletion mutation seemed to have the biggest effect. If the mutation deletes a base and makes the new codon a stop codon, the protein produced will be too short. If it deletes a base in the beginning of the mRNA, then it will affect the whole sequence. Where as if it happens at the end of the mRNA, then it will only effect the last couple bases or none, which is a smaller area that is effected. The substitution mutation seemed to have the smallest effect.  if the mutation changes a codon into a stop codon, it will make the whole amino acid chain shorter. If it changes a C to a G but the same amino acid is produced, then nothing will change. If it changes a C to a G and a diffrent amino acid is produced, several things way change.

Institute, National Human Genome Research. "Missense Mutation Example." 
     Wikimedia Commons, 25 Mar. 2013, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ 
     File:Missense_Mutation_Example.jpg. Accessed 13 Dec. 2016. 

I choose the deletion mutation to show that the translation process can be stopped very early. This mutation had the biggest effect out of all of them because the translation stopped after the start codon. It does matter where the mutation occurs because it will effect the bases after them and can stop the process of translation early on.

Before:

After:

A mutation can cause an important boldly function to stop working properly or stop working at all. This can lead to having a difficult life that may end earlier than most. Tay-Sachs disease causes fatty liquids to build up in the brain, damaging brain cells and the spinal cord. Tay-Sachs diseas comes from a defect in a gene on chromosome 15. 

Source:
"Tay-Sachs Disease." PudMed Health, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/
     PMHT0024672/. Accessed 13 Dec. 2016.

"Human Male Karyotpe High Resolution." Wikimedia Commons, 4 July 2015,
     commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
     File:Human_male_karyotpe_high_resolution_-_Chromosome_15.png. Accessed 13
     Dec. 2016.

Human DNA Extraction Lab Conclusion

In this lab we asked the question, how can DNA be separated from cheek cells in order to study it. We found that we could if we followed a series of steps. A qualitative observation that proves this is the chuck of DNA that was formed when I followed the procedure correctly. Some evidence from current scientific concepts say that if cheek cells are taken from someone, add a pinch of salt, which protects the negative phosphate of DNA, making them move closer to each other, 10 drops of detergent, which is used to lyse o disintegrate the cell membrane and causes all the contents of the cell to be released into the mixture, and 5-10 drops of enzymes, which breaks down the proteins called histones that causes DNA to wrap itself around them, shake the tube 6 times, let the solution sit for 5 minutes, add the same amount of alcohol as the mixture, making sure not to mix them, and since alcohol is polar and DNA is nonpolar, the DNA becomes a precipitate, let it sit again for 5 minutes, DNA would become visible.

While our hypothesis, if we are able to see DNA, then we will see it after we add the alcohol to the solution, was supported by our data, there could have been mistakes of how much of a certain solution we added, so some of us were not able to see our DNA or only a certain amount of it, and how long it took to make part of the solution, so if some of us took 5 minutes making a part of the solution, while others took 10, maybe the people who took longer were not able to see their DNA or only a certain amount of it. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend being more precise with measurements and to time everything as closely as possible.

This lab was done to demonstrate how DNA could be extracted. From this lab I learned that certain items, like pineapple juice, salt, and detergent, have certain items in them like pineapple juice has catabolic proteases which break up certain proteins, which helps me understand the concept of what a cell and DNA molecule is made of more clearly. Based on my experience from this lab, I have a better understanding of the chemical properties of cells and DNA and will be able to understand more difficult concepts later.

Unit 4 Reflection

In this unit we studied genetics and reproduction. We did a coin sex lab to find out how to use probability to predict what traits an offspring will have. In this lab, we flipped coins, which represented different alleles of certain genes from gametes produced by meiosis, like hair color, an autosomal trait, and gender, a x-linked inheritance trait, to show how traits are predictable and unpredictable when an offspring is made. We did monohybrid and dihybrid cross simulations. Our dihybrid cross simulation shows how traits are predictable and unpredictable. We used the traits hair color, blonde (recessive) and brown (dominant), and eye color, blue (recessive) and brown (dominant). We predicted that two children will be homozygous, while 14 of them will be heterzygous. Our results where 8 brown hair and eyes (BBEE or BbEe), 4 brown hair and blue eyes (BBee or Bbee), 3 blond hair and brown eyes (bbEE or bbEe), and 1 blond hair and blue eyes (bbee). We had 4 BBEE and 1 bbee. That was 2 more homozoygous pairs than we were excepting. This is because we could not predict if a coin would land on a head or tail. Because of these results, I claim that even though we know what traits offspring can possibly inherit, we don't know the exact ones they will inherit, also known as probability. This is shown in the results we got from our dihybrid cross examination. The limit of using probability to predict an offspring's traits is we don't know what two gametes will combine and what type of alleles they have in either of them. This understanding relates to my life since no one in my family has blond hair but me, so I assume both my parents had a recessive allele and I got both of them, therefore I got blond hair.

 Tocharianne. Dihybrid Cross. Digital image. Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 21 Dec. 2006. Web. 25 Nov. 2016. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dihybrid_cross.png>. 

Besides studying how traits are passed from parents to their offspring/s, we studied mitosis, how a cell splits and creates a copy of itself, meiosis, the creation of gametes/sex cells, asexual reproduction, reproduction without sex, sexual reproduction, reproduction with sex, how Mendel discovered why sex is so great by studying pea plants and their traits, his sex laws, the law of segregation which states that gene pairs for a trait separate when gametes are formed, and the law of indepdent assortement which states that gene pairs separate independently from each other during meiosis. austomal and x-linked inheritance, and gene exceptions and complications. One theme was exploring the concept of why is sex so great. We learned that sex causes genes to mix and create new combinations, which helps new traits that will help an offspring to survive to be formed, while asexual reproduction, reproduction without the mixing of genes, creates clones and since mutations are the only way to differentiate organisms, these organisms do not create new traits often and have a less likely chance of surviving as a species. Some essential understandings were the importance of the cell cycle, what sex is, the significance of chromosomes, the relationship between sex, genes, and traits, the parts of sex are random and the parts that are predictable, the different ways sex leaves you stuck, and how genetics gets complicated.

Meiosis Stages. Digital image. Wikimedia Commons. N.p., 21 June 2016. Web. 25 Nov. 2016. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meiosis_Stages.svg>.

A setback I had during this unit was managing my time for the info graphic. I spent too much time researching about the information needed for the graphic at school, causing me to have to make the actual info graphic at home. A success I had was doing all the vodcasts early so I had more information for my info graphic and more time to complete it. A strength I had was being able to understand most genetic related concepts easily, while a weakness I had was learning the differences between Mendel's sex laws. A skill I learned from this experience is time management. I wish to learn more about genetically inherited diseases and what chromosome is responsible for what traits. An unanswered question I have is how and why mutations occur. I wonder about why we reproduce like this and if there are any other ways besides what we have discovered so far exist.

Is Sexual Reproduction Important?

I read a part of the book Sex Advice for All Creations by Dr. Tatiana's which compared how asexual organisms and other organism reproduced, and how certain ways of reproduction affected the genetics of organisms. As I read this section, I was posed the question "Is sex important?" At the end of the selective reading, I believe that sex is important for several reasons.
One, asexual species usually become extinct pretty quickly. This causes "scientists to conclude that exclusive asexuality is an evolutionary dead end, a fast track to extinction. Sex, they insist, is essential" (216). There are several reasons for this which will be explored later. In short, without sex, or the mixing of genes, species usually become extinct.
Two, sex mixes the genetic information from one female and one male, which helps prevent diseases and viruses to spread to offsprings. Dr. Tatiana points out "Sex is an advantage because it breaks up gene combination nations: it creates the genetic version of a moving target. With each act of sex, the parasites have to start again from square one" (228-229). If organisms reproduce without sex, which is done by cloning, their genetic information barely changes, only slight changes are caused by mutation, leaving the disease or viruses being able to evolve and maybe cause an extinction of the species
Three, according to the ratchet theory, "asexuals are evolutionary short-lived because, over time, the number of harmful mutations they carry will irrevocably and inevitably ratchet upward" (226). The ratchet theory explains that without the mixing of genes, or sex, will cause the number of harmful mutations to go up each generation of the species, eventually causing them to go extinct.
Finally, sex keeps the whole of the species more healthy than asexual species. This is because "Shuffling genes can help us evade parasites and reduce the impact of harmful mutations" (231). To conclude, even though some species can survive without sex and clone themselves instead, sex shuffles genes, causing the risk of harmful mutations, diseases, and viruses to go down, while asexual organisms have no way to stop harmful mutations to be passed on to the next generation and stop disease and viruses from evolving.
Nothing really confused me in the reading, but one question did come up though, what does celibate mean? I wish to learn about the hormones that cause the need for sex, why some people prefer certain genders over others, and what causes these preferences.

Unit 3 Reflection

This unit was about the cell. We learned about types of cells, prokaryote, which have no nucleus and are bacteria, eukaryote, which have a nucleus and are animal, plant, and fungi cells.
We also learned about types of organelles in a cell and what their function was. The nucleus keeps DNA inside it, controls the cell activities, and determines what type of cell it. The ribsome builds proteins. Vesicles move material around inside the cell. The rough endoplasmic reticulum, which has ribsome stuck to it, makes proteins and membranes that are going to be used in the cell. The smooth endoplasmic reticulum has no ribsomes stuck to it, and it produces lipids and cholesterol which are important in detoxification. The golgi appartus modifies and adds to the proteins that are transported to them via vesicles and sends out the finished proteins to parts of a cell or outside of the cell. The cytoskeleton is the structure inside the cell which gives it it's shape. The microtubles are the big wires that provide compression support. The microfilaments are the thin, small wires that provide tensonial support. The mitchondria generates energy, ATP. The vacuole are sacks that store things a cell might need later. The cytosol contains a solute inside it that dissolves material and fluids. The lysome contains degetsive enzymes inside it that are contained by a membrane. When these enzymes are released, they either break down a vesicles to get material or to kill the cell. Finally, the centriole sets up were other organelles are placed in relationship to itself.
Lastly, we learned about certain processes a cell goes through. It goes through the process of diffusion, which uses no energy, and causes molecules move in and out of the cell from high to low concentration till it reaches equilibrium. Another process only plant cells go through is photosynthesis, which produces 1 glucose, the sugar plants need for energy, and 6 oxygen, which is a waste project, which we need to breathe. The process animal cells go through to get energy is called cellular respiration. 36 ATP, the cell's main energy source, 6  carbon dioxide, and 6 water molecules are produced from this process.
Some setbacks I had was when I had to tell the difference between hypotonic and hypertonic diffusion, which I figured out by remembering hyper goes out and hypo goes in, and having to re-watch the photosynthesis podcast cause I got lost the first time. Some strengths I had were understanding and remaindering the different types of organelles and their functions, and being able to understand cellular respiration faster than photosynthesis.
From the experiences during this unit, I learned to pay closer attention to the vodcasts since they're becoming more complex. Thus makes me a better student since I will pay closer attention to vodcasts, making learning new concepts easier for me.
I want to learn more about the interowrokings of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in more detail. An unanswered question I have is where did the first cell come from. I wonder about how life first started on earth.

Plant Cell

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-some-organelles-in-the-cell.htm

Animal Cell

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:0312_Animal_Cell_and_Components.jpg

Egg Diffusion Lab

In this lab, we took two eggs that had been soaked in vinegar for two days, measured their weight and circumference, placed one in deionized water and the other one in sugar water, and after two days, we took them out and remeasured them.

The class date shows very little change with the egg soaked in deionized water, the average in change in mass being -0.44% and the average in change in circumference being 7.78%.

For the egg soaked in sugar water, the average in change in mass was -45.9% and the average in change in weight being -22.1%. This big change was caused by passive diffusion, which is the process when molecules move in or out of the cell depending on the situation, from high concentration to low concentration and requires no energy. The movement from in or out of the cell is decided by the concentration of solvents and solutes in and out of the cell. Since solutes cannot move in or out of a cell, solvents move so that the cell can reach equilibrium. Since sugar is a solute and water is a solvent, the egg loses water so that it can reach equilibrium, causing it to shrivel up.

Cell's internal environment changes because of passive diffusion. If there is a higher concentration of solutes outside the cell membrane, solvents moves out of the cell, which is called hypertonic, which is what happens to the egg in sugar water egg, and causes it to shrivel up. If there is a higher concentration of solutes inside the cell membrane, solvents move inside of the cell, which is called hypotonic, which is what happened to the egg in vinegar, and caused it to grow. If there is an equal concentration of solutes and solvents inside and outside of the cell membrane, which is called isotonic, the solvents move in and out of cell, replacing each other so they stay in equilibrium, and do not change in size. Cells diffuse so they can reach equilibrium because that means everything is evened out in and out of the cell, which is the cell's goal.

This lab demonstrates hypertonic diffusion because the egg in the sugar water had more solutes, which was the sugar, outside than inside, which caused solvents to leave the egg, causing the egg to lose water and other solvents, making it shrivel up and become smaller.

The salting of roads to make snow melt affects plants near the salted roads. They start to shirvel up because of the salt. They shrivel up because they have more solutes, the salt, outside than inside, so solvents leave the plant to reach equilibrium, which in turn, causes the plant to shrivel up and maybe die.

I would want to test if putting a shriveled up egg in deionized water, would give it's size back. I would want to test this to see if hypertonic diffusion can be reversed completely or if it has lasting affects.

Egg Macromolecule Lab

In this lab we asked the question can macromolecules be identified in an egg cell. We found that the egg membrane have proteins, which had a 10 on our color scale, which was from 0 to 10, 0 being no color change and 10 being a very dark color change. The reason for proteins to be found in the membrane is because the egg membrane represents the cell membrane, which has protein channels spread throughout the cell membrane, letting bigger molecules in and out of the cell, and thus, the sodium hydroxide and copper sulfate mixture detected them. We found that the egg yolk had lipids, which had a 9. The reason for lipids were found in the yolk is because the egg yolk represents nuclei of a cell, which has a nucleic membrane made of lipids, thus the egg yolk would contain some lipids and would be detected by Sudan 3. We found the egg white contains proteins, which has a 10. The reason for proteins to be located in the egg white is because the egg white represents the cell's cytoplasm, which contains many organelles. Some organelles are used to create proteins, and have proteins inside of them going through process, so that explains why proteins are found in the egg white and why they were detected by the sodium hydroxide and copper sulfate mixture.

Our data for the egg membrane supports our hypothesis, if the egg membrane has monosaccharides and polysaccharides, then it will turn from blue to green or orange for monosaccharides, which gave us a result of 8, and brown to black for polysaccharides, which gave us a 3. But there could have been some errors because the egg membrane might have been accidentally touched by human hands. Our data for the egg yolk supports our hypothesis, if the egg yolk has lipids in it, it will turn from red to orange, which gave us a result of 9. But there could have been some errors because maybe the same amount of solution wasn't used for each test tube. Our data for the egg white supports the protein part of our hypothesis and disapproves the lipid part of our hypothesis. Our hypothesis states that if the egg white has lipids and proteins, it will turn from red to orange for lipids, which gave us a 0, and from blue to purple for proteins, which was a 10. Some errors that could have happened is the data may have been recorded wrong for color change, like a slight change of color wasn't given a 1 or 2, but a 0. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend to try to be more precise with measuring, being more observative, and trying to contaminate things.

This lab was done to demonstrate the molecules that can be found in an egg cell. From this lab I have learned that types of macromolecules can be found in certain parts of a cell which helps me understand the concept of were certain macromolecules are located in the cell.  Based on my experience from this lab I can understand what certain types of food have certain molecules.

Unit 2 Reflection

Unit 2 was about miniature biology. We learned about atoms, which are the basic units of matter and are made of electrons, which have a negative charge, neutrons, which have no charge, and protons, which have a positive charge. Protons and neutrons are located in the nucleus of the atom, which is the center, and electrons orbit the nucleus. Then we learned about elements, which are pure substances of atoms, and compounds and molecules, which are formed by two or more elements, and have energy stored in between the atoms. Molecules and compounds are held together by either ionic or covalent bonds. Ionic bonds form when an atom gains or loses an electron. Covalent bonds are formed when electrons are shared between atoms. There is also a hydrogen bond which holds molecules together due to the slight attraction of positive to negative charge.

We also learned about the properties of water which consists of water being polar, it's ability to form hydrogen bonds, it's less dense when it's frozen, it's ability to absorb a great deal of energy, it's very attractive, with it having cohesion, attraction between molecules of the same substance, adhesion, attraction between molecules of different substances, and capillary action, both cohesion and adhesion, and it's great for making solutions since it's often used as a solvent, the substance that dissolves the solute, the substance that is being dissolved.

We also learned about pH, acids, and bases. pH is the measurement of positive hydrogen ions (H+) in a solution. Acids are anything that have more H+ ions than OH- ions, and are below 7 on the pH scale. Bases are anything that have more OH- ions than H+ ions and are above 7 on the pH scale. 7 is neutral pH, which is water.

Then we learned about four big macro molecules, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbohydrates are sugars that are shaped like rings, which are made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and can be chained together to form more complex sugars. Their main function is to provide energy for consumers and store energy for producers. Lipids are large molecules that include fats, phospholipids, oils, waxes, and cholesterol and are structured with long chains of hydrogen and carbon. Their main functions are to store energy, break bonds to give energy to the body when glucose is running low, make up cell membranes, and make hormones. Proteins are large molecules made of smaller molecules called amino acids, that are chained together. They are used for supporting the body, helping cells communicate, speed up chemical reactions, and let things through the cell membrane. Lastly, nucleic acids are large molecules composed of up to thousands of nucleotides, which are made of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogen containing base. They are used to make DNA, which serves as a blueprint for proteins, RNA, and ATP, which is a primary energy transferring molecule in a cell.

Carbohydrate

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saccharose.svg

Protein

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_geometry

Fat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritoran

Nucleic Acid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribonucleotide

Lastly we learned about enzymes, a protein used to speed up chemical reactions in the body by lowering the activation energy, which is the amount of energy needed to create a reaction. It has four structures, primary, secondary, tertiary, and Quaternary structure, primary being the most basic, and Quaternary being the most complex. Some factors that effect enzymes are pH and temperature. If these are too high or too low for a certain enzyme, it causes the enzyme to start denaturing, which makes it unravel and can slow down or stop its function. Simple denature only affects the tertiary and Quaternary structures, and is reversible. Complete denature affects the secondary and primary structures, and is irreversible.And this is what we learned this unit.
Somethings I learned from the labs were how pH and amount of substance effected products produced by enzymes, how certain variables can cause enzymes to create products, like cheese, faster, and how simpler carbohydrates taste sweeter than complex ones.

I understood most of the concepts we learned this unit, and the labs helped me better understand them. Some setbacks I had were being too quiet for my group to hear me, but I got louder as the days went by.

I want to learn more about how ATP works in more detail. An unanswered question I have is why carbohydrates shaped like rings and what benefits it has. I wonder about what other substances have similar properties to water.

Sweetness Lab

Monosaccharaides and disaccharides have a much higher tatse of sweetness than polysaccharides. According to the observations I made, sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, galacatose, and lactose had more sweetness then starch and cellulose.  The first six saccharides listed are either monosaccarides or disaccaraides. They range from 30-170 in sweetness. The scale itself ranged from 0-200 in sweetness. Starch and celluolse on the other hand ranged from 10-20, which are polysaccharides. Also, since  polysaccarides have three or more rings, they have less sweetness then monosaccharides and polysaccharides, which have one or two rings. This evidence shows that monosaccardies and disaccarides have more sweetness then polysaccarides.

The more rings the carbohydrate has, the more complex they are, making the body spend more time and energy digesting them. The more rings, the more energy the carbohydrate has to give to the body, so maltose has more energy than fructose, even though fructose is much sweeter. And the less rings, the less amount of benefits it has for the body. So even though fructose is much sweeter than sucrose, sucrose is better for the body.

The testers did not give the same ratings for several reasons. One is that we all have slightly different taste buds, making our ratings different. Also, some may have not rinsed their mouth after every sample, which could alter the effects. Lastly, some testers could have accidentally given the rating they meant, for example, fructose to galactose.

Humans taste sweetness due to certain sensory cells on your tongue that are made to taste sweetness, which are spread around your tongue. Since all of our cells are slightly different, and differ from person to person, this causes our sense of taste to be different from each other.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0072592/

Biology: Characteristics of Life

Jean Lab

In this lab we asked the question what concentration of bleach is best to fade the color out of new denim in 10 minutes without visual damage to the fabric .We found that a 25% concentration of bleach gives results without damaging the fabric. 25% got a ranking of 4 in the color ranking system, 10 being the color faded all the way to white and 0 being the color wasn't affected. It also got a ranking of 0 for fabric damage, therefore there was no damage done to the jeans. The 25% jeans faded in color but still have a tint of denim blue in them. 100% bleach got a ranking of 7 in color removal, and 4 in fabric in damage. 50% got a 5 in color removal, and a 2 in fabric damage. 12.5% got 1 for color removal, and 0 for fabric damage. 0% got 0 for both color removal and fabric damage. Since we know that bleach breaks down color pigments, a certain amount of bleach combined with water will remove color, but the more water and less bleach, the less of color change there will be. This data supports our claim because as the concentration of bleach went down, so did the value of color removal and fabric damage.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, some errors occurred. The water in the beaker we used to make concentrations got contained when we poured from the graduated cylinder, which had bleach in it, to the beaker. This may have effected the results of color removal and fabric damage because it might have made the concentrations stronger, therefore the value of color removal and fabric damage might have been altered. Another error was that we left out some jeans too long after soaking them in each concentration before soaking in them in water to remove the bleach concentration, which may have also caused the value of color removal and fabric damage to increase. Due to this error, in future experiments I would recommend trying to be more precise in timing and switching out anything that got contaminated.

This lab was done to familiarize ourselves with the scientific method. From this lab I learned how to use the scientific method during labs which helps me understand the concepts of properly controlling an experiment and measuring certain units. Based on my experience from this lab, I now know how to use the scientific method during labs and will be able to complete labs more efficiently.