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.