1-6_virtual_enzyme_lab.pdf |
After our various experiments to crack this murder case, I have come to the conclusion that the victim recently ate wings and celery while watching sporting events at blue frog. During my experimentation, I tested four different organic macromolecules: Lipids, Proteins, Glucose, and Starch. First off, the stomach bits tested positive for starch, when the yellow-brown solution turned black after 3-4 drops of Lugol's Reagent. Although celery does not contain starch, buffalo wings are typically coated in corn starch to give it its "crispy" finish. Next, glucose also tested positive when the blue solution turned green after 1 mL of Benedict solution bathed in water that was around 40-50 celsius. Celery contains digestible carbohydrates in the form of sugars, but in very low amounts. Although sometimes buffalo wings don't contain sugars, occasionally, in different recipes, they do. However, it doesn't quite matter since celery does contain sugars. Afterwards, I tested for proteins. The blue solution turned purple after 2 mL of Buiret's Solution, concluding that there is protein present. In one serving of wings, there contains around 14g of protein. Similarly so, a stalk of celery contains around 0.3 g of protein. Lastly, lipids tested negative in the stomach concentration, but positive in olive oil, crossing out the option of Bene Italian Restaurant.
Why do we have so many cells?
Cells are the smallest living things in our bodies, and there are millions of them in our body, constantly reproducing. There are so many different types of cells in our body, all functioning in different ways and performing different tasks. All the same functioning cells form together to create a tissue, sort of like how all of the organs in our body work together to maintain our health. Due to the human body's complexity, all of the cells bind together and help create our tissues, and essentially, our organs. Would it be a problem if humans had 1/2 the cells if they were 2x the size? Yes, I think that this would be a problem because due to the experiment we performed in class, we discovered that during the same time of being in HCL, the one cm cube was almost completely transparent (acidic), and the large cube of 3 cm still was mostly pink (neutral). Furthermore, when we calculated the surface area to volume ratios and the numbers helped us understand why our cells are the size they are. First, for the 3x3 cm cube, the surface area to volume ratio was 54:27=2:1, the medium cube at 2x2 cm had a ratio of 24:8=3:1, and the 1x1 cm had a ratio of 6:1. When we went back and took measurements, on the big cube 2.5 cm was still pink, the medium had 1.8 cm that was still pink, and the small cube was almost completely absorbed. In comparison to the smallest cube, the 3x3 (biggest cube) only absorbed 0.5 cm of the cube, and the 1x1 cube was almost fully absorbed. This allowed us to come to the conclusion that the bigger the body of the cell, the volume gets bigger faster than the surface area, meaning that surface area to volume ratio would get smaller. So if the increase in surface area doesn't increase in proportion to the volume, there has to be a point where the cell can't absorb enough nutrients through the membrane. Living organisms in the world are defined by being "a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life." This means that they have to be able to consume oxygen, food, and water, while releasing waste toxins such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen. In our recent class study of our bottle ecosystems, we looked closely and observed many organisms that were inhabited in our bottles, and how they manage to absorb oxygen and release toxins.
For example, we observed a type of fish, guppies, and noticed that they have gills that allow them to breathe, and excrete nitrogen through ammonia (in their urine). Additionally, we also looked closely at pill bugs, and was able to figure out that they breathe through gills as well, being more closely related to marine organisms than other types of insects. However, pill bugs don’t urinate—they have an ability to tolerate ammonia gas, that passes directly through their exoskeleton. Lastly, we observed the earthworms that played as the independent variable of our ecosystem. We found out that earthworms breathe through their skin and that the oxygen goes directly into their bloodstream. However, for this process to be possible, the outermost layer of the earthworm must be moist. Therefore, mucus is excreted onto the skin to keep it moist, to allow the earthworm to breathe in oxygen and release carbon dioxide. African Lions: Modeling Populations (What Factors influence how a population changes over time?)10/29/2014 Within a community of species, there are factors that influence how the population will change over time. Two of the main aspects of this are exponential growth and logistic growth that is determined due to the resources in the area. Exponential growth is when there is enough resources for all the species in the area, allowing the population to flourish and create the "J curve." On the contrary to that is logistic growth where the limited factors mold how the area's population is going to grow into. This is often known as the "S curve" because of its inability to remain constant throughout. However, these limiting factors have two different categories, one of them being density-dependent and another density-independent. The density-dependent factors are those that completely control and slow down the environment (eg. food, water, space). On the other hand, the density-independent factors are those that are unexpected and unpredictable but still affect the population (eg. disease, natural disaster, weather). Lastly, these limiting factors control the number of species able to live and survive in the area, also known as the carrying capacity. Competition from resources is highest when the population is near its carrying capacity.
Why are there so many species of anoles? And how did they evolve?
The reason behind the evolution of anoles is their adaption to the environment around them. With the vast amount of islands where the anoles exist, the lizards are prone to adapt to certain parts of the environment instead of itself in a whole. This explains why there are so many different adaptations that occur on different islands that seem to be similar to one another. |