Cell structure

Green MANchine

Photosynthesis "Dry Lab"

Materials; 4 Test Tube, Snail, Elodea Plant, a lighted room, Pond water, And a dark room.

Procedure;
Step one, Put 100 mL pond water and 20 props of BTB into a test tube.
Step two, repeat step one for all three remaining test tubes.
Step Three, add a snail to two test tube and add a plant to the remaining two test tubes.
Step Four, Take one test tube with the snail and one test tube with the plant into the dark room and keep the other two in the lighted room.
Step Five, Leave all four Test tube over night.
Step Six, Collect data and write down your observations.
Step Seven, clean up. Pour the pond water down the sink, trash the Elodea plant and flush the snails down the toilet.

2)
     1) Water plus bromothymol blue is blue green Because Oxygen is in the water to make it turn blue green and the Ph is neutral.
     2) Water plus bromothymol blue plus an aquarium snail turns yellow Because Bromothymol blue turns yellow when mixed with carbon dioxide because it makes carbonic acid which turns BTB yellow.
     3) Water plus bromothymol blue plus elodea, an aquarium plant, Is blue green in light Because bromothymol blue turns blue green when mixed with oxygen. Oxygen is what comes out after a plant goes through photosynthesis
     4) Water plus bromothymol blue plus a snail plus elodea is blue-green in light and yellow when left in the dark for three hours Because the snail is putting out carbon dioxide in the dark and the plant can't go through photosynthesis in the dark then in the light the plant can go through photosynthesis to put out carbon dioxide.

3) Questions
    1) What color would it change if you added twice as many snails as you did plants?
    2) What color would it Change if you had twice as many plants as you did snails?
    3)  What would happen if you had an oxygen pump in it?

Enzyme lab

 The enzyme lab was really fun. It took up three full days and it was really easy so my group messed around while we waited. For the lab we had to take a computer over to the lab station and hook it up to a pressure sensor on logger pro. While one of us was doing that another person in the group was busy making the water yeast solution.  On the first day we used 3 ml water and 3 ml H2O2 in a test tube. Then we added x amount of drops and put the pressure gauge on top and recorded it on the computer. The graph below is from the first day. We put 15 drops then 20 drops then 45 drops. As you can see the graph peaked at 20 drops. I don't know what happened with the 45 drops.

The Second day we kept the number of drops the same and changed the Ph level. We used 15 drops of yeast and changed the Ph level to Ph 4 Ph 7 and Ph 10. As you can see below the 4 and 10 were the same and the Ph 7 was lower. Ph 4 is acidic so it should have killed the enzyme. It would have in a human but the enzyme in the yeast was able to beat the acid so it could break down the H2O2. The graph below is the Ph graph.

The last day we kept the drops the same again and changed the temperature. Again we used 15 drops of yeast. We changed the temperature to 0, 25, 38, and 80 degrees Celsius. The graph peaked at 38 degrees. which is right above body temperature. Above 38 degrees it is too hot for the enzymes to work as well. You can see this in the graph below.

Poison Dart Frog

Poison Dart frogThe poison dart frog is the most toxic Animal on earth. One poison dart frog has enough venom in its two inch long body to kill ten grown men. The only animal that threatens the poison tree frog is a snake called Leimadophis epinephelus which has developed a resistance to its venom. This article was good i learned the poison tree frog is the most toxic animal. I didn't know this I thought it was a snake but it is good to know the poison tree frog is the most toxic. I know to stay away from it. I also learned in this article that medical researchers are using it in the development of a really strong pain killer. What I would like to know is how they figured out you can use a poison that can kill ten grown men into a pain killer. I am planning on finding out what the pain killer is called and researching it to find out how.

PHENYLKETONURIA: A METABOLIC DISORDER

PHENYLKETONURIA: A METABOLIC DISORDER

Metabolic disorders are genetic diseases that affect the body's ability to perform its normal chemical reactions. Many metabolic disorders result from enzyme defects. Recall that a metabolic pathway is a stepwise sequence of enzyme-mediated reactions. If one enzyme in a metabolic pathway is defective, that enzyme's substrate may accumulate and the pathway may not be completed. This may result in a buildup of harmful substances or a shortage of required molecules.

Activity

In this exercise, you will use the Web links below to gather information about the metabolic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU). Use what you learn to answer the questions at the bottom of the page.


Your Genes, Your Health: Phenylketonuria
http://www.ygyh.org

NSPKU Home Page
http://www.nspku.org

Texas Department of Health Genetic Disorders
http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/newborn

Phenylketonuria - The Genetics
http://willroberts.com/pku/


Questions

1. What enzyme is most commonly defective in people with phenylketonuria?
        The Phenylketonuria is the most common defective enzyme. If high levels of PKU are in the brain it can cause retardation.
2. What reaction does this enzyme catalyze? (What is the substrate and what product is produced?)

3. Describe the symptoms of phenylketonuria.
         A child with Pku may have a smaller then normal head epilepsy and mental retardation. Also there skin will have a musky odor lighter color skin and hair
4. What causes the symptoms of PKU, the lack of a substance or the buildup of one?
The build up of the substance causes PKU

5. How common is phenylketonuria? How is it treated?
1 in 10,000 Caucasians some ethnic groups are higher and some ethnic groups are lower. to treat PKU the person must go on a low protein diet for life.

Microscopes

Last week was really fun. We got to use the microscopes. I got really good at focusing the microscope in on what we are looking at. I fought for the microscope camara. So we got some really good pictures of onion cells and cheek cells. we tried to blow up the cells by putting distilled water and shrink the cells using salt water. The cells grew and shrunk a little bit but not by much. The first day we were using them we looked at pond water and you could see little microorganisms moving around. Also I was bleeding so i put a little of my blood on a slide and we looked at that. It was cool you can see all the blood cells.  I can't wait to see what we get to look at next through the microscopes. Check out the following video from the microscope camera.