Unit 2 Refleciton

Unit 2 Reflection

This unit was about the big four macro molecules and enzymes. The big four macro molecules are: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbohydrates are sugars which are made up of rings of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Lipids are large molecules that are made up of long chains of carbon and hydrogen called fatty acids. Proteins are large molecules made up of smaller molecules called amino acids. Amino acids are chained together to make proteins. Enzymes make chemical reactions happen and break molecules apart or put molecules together. Nucleic acids are large molecules composed of up to thousands of repeating nucleotides. 

     For producers, carbohydrates store energy. For consumers, they are the main source of energy. The three types of carbohydrates are: monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides. Monosaccharides have one ring and taste sweet. Disaccharides have two rings and also taste sweet. Polysaccharides, also known as complex carbohydrates, have three or more rings and taste starchy.

     Most lipids are non-polar, or uncharged. Lipids make up brain cells, and are used to break bonds between carbon and hydrogen to get energy when glucose is running low. The two types of fatty acids are: saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Saturated fats are straight chains of carbon and hydrogen which are bad for health. They are solids at room temperature. Unsaturated fats are double bonded in some carbon chains. These type of fats are better for health and are liquids at room temperature. 

This protein, hemoglobin, is
responsible for carrying oxygen

     Structural proteins support the body, help cells communicate, make up muscle proteins, skin, and bones. Enzymes are made up of three main parts. The substrate is the molecule the enzyme works on. The active site is where the substrate attaches to the enzyme. The product is what the enzyme produces. 

This is the structure of a nucleic acid.
This nucleotide contains the five-carbon
sugar deoxyribose, adenine, and
 one phosphate group.

     The nucleotides in the nucleic acids are made up of a sugar, a phosphate, and a base. The nucleotides bond together to make one or two strands. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) has one strand, while Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is made up of one strand. DNA serves as a blueprint for making proteins. Adenosine phosphate (ATP) is the primary energy transferring molecule in the cell. 
     Through this unit I learned many things about myself. My favorite part of class was the labs. The most interesting lab was the cheese lab. Before the lab, all I knew about cheese was that it contained milk. After doing the lab, I found out that cheese was made up of all different types of bacteria. I also realized that time management is very important. For me, it is important to do the vodcast and CFU every night they are assigned because they help me understand the material in the chapter. Lastly, I know now that I have to study a lot harder to maintain the information from unit 2.
     

Sweetness Lab

Sweetness Lab

     Monosaccharaides and disaccharides are sweeter than polysaccharides. Fructose, a monosaccharide, had the highest degree of sweetness at 175. Fructose was a granular white powder. Monosaccharaides had an average sweetness of 93. Disaccharides had an average sweetness of 41. Polysaccharides had an average sweetness of 0. This data concludes that monosaccharides were the sweetest type of carbohydrate, and polysaccharides were not sweet at all.
     The structure of a carbohydrate affects how they are used by cells and organisms. Carbohydrates that have a less complex structure are easier to digest and helps organisms get energy faster. 
     Not all testers gave the same rating. This is because people have different numbers of taste buds. People react differently to different types of sweetness. Also, some people might not taste as well as others because they ate something before tasting the different types of carbohydrate.
     Humans taste sweetness with the taste buds on their tongue. A taste bud is made up of about 50 to 100 taste cells. Some taste buds respond to salty and sour things, while others respond to sweetness. A person with more taste cells will say a certain type of food is sweeter because more taste cells react to the sweetness. 

What is Biology?

Jean Lab

Jean Lab Conclusion

     In this lab we asked the question: What concentration of bleach is best to fade the color out of new denim material in 10 minutes without visible damage to the fabric? We found that the concentration with 50% bleach and 50% water was the best to fade the color out of the new denim material in 10 minutes. We had fifteen denim squares that were five centimeters long. We used three denim squares for each concentration. We had five different bleach test solutions. The most powerful solution had 100% bleach. We had 50%, 25%, and 12.5% dilutions of bleach. Our negative control had 100% water. The denim squares with 100% bleach were the lightest, and the denim with 100% water was the darkest shade of blue. There was not much visible damage on any of the denim squares. This data supports our claim because the concentration with 50% bleach and 50% water had the least amount of visible damage.

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     While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the way we put in our denim squares. Instead of putting three denim squares in to each solution, we put one denim square in at a time. This might have affected our results because the denim squares weren't all in the solution at the same time. Some squares might have been inside the solution for a few seconds longer than others. This could vary the affect on the denim squares. Some squares could be lighter than others because they were in the solution for a little bit longer. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend putting all three trials in at the same time, and making sure that there is only one dependent variable. 
     This lab was done to demonstrate the amount of bleach necessary to fade denim jeans. From this lab, I learned how to do a lab, which helped me further understand the scientific method. Based on my experience from this lab, I learned that the 50% concentration of bleach is best to fade the color of denim jeans without destroying them. I also learned the importance of following the procedure, and the difference between dependent variables, independent variables, controls, and constants.

From left to right, 0%, 12.5%, 25%, 50%, and 100% bleach