Cell Structure

There are 3 basic types of cell which are the animal cell, the plant cell, and the bacteria cell and I will explain all of them.

An animal cell is made up of alot of different parts which are used for different functions. First thing I will talk to you about is the nucleolus which is one of the most essential things in the structure. This is the way you can tell one cell from the other because RNA and DNA are stored here.

Arsenic as a Poison

Arsenic is known best as a deadly poison, although in small doses it does have medical benefits. BBC News Online looks at the workings of the chemical infamous for its deadly effects. Arsenic is a semi-metallic naturally-occurring chemical. It is all around us in the environment and we are all exposed to small doses on a regular basis. It is difficult to detect as it is generally odourless and flavourless, meaning people have little idea when it is around.

I got this information on:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/physical_health/conditions/arsenic_poisoning.shtml

If consumed large amounts of Arsenic, humans can be killed quickly. If Arsenic is consumed with small amounts, but long time exposure humans die a much slower but painful death, or gain another illness. These illnesses include cancer, diabetes, thickening of the skin, liver disease, or problems with digestive system. Anyone who consumes large amounts of this poison by eating or drinking will most likely die. It causes a metallic taste in the mouth, excessive saliva production, and problems with swallowing. The next stage of the consummation is vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, and access sweating. In the last stage consumers will have seizures and go into shocking dying soon after. Some ways to treat Arsenic poisoning are wash your hands with excessive amounts of water, remove any contaminated clothes, and washing out the stomach. Ways to prevent the consumption of Arsenic poison are to stay away from contaminated water and other things with mass amounts of Arsenic.

Enzyme Pressure Lab

This lab was intended to see how much pressure a yeast and H2O/H2O2 mixure could withstand in 3 minutes and was measured in kPa(kilo pascals). Madey Eckart, Sam Torres, and myself did this lab together...also with the help of Megan Roberson and Brett Copper.

In this part of the lab we measured how much yeast was put in a 3mL H2O/3mL H2O2 beaker and used different amounts of drops from a pipe-let throughout the experiment. In the first test we measure how much pressure a pipe-let with 10 drops of yeast could withstand. In the graph above it shows that the beaker could withstand 8.007kPa. In the second test we measured 15 drops instead of the 10 and it withstood 11.4 kPa. Our final test surprised us because in about half way through the pressure plug popped off from the beaker before the 3 min was over so the pressure it withstood was only 8.583kPa. So we all came to the conclusion that with more yeast the pressure builds up quicker but it can't withstand as much.

In this part of the lab we measured the the pressure in different temperatures. We kept a constant number of yeast drops (20) that were put into the beakers and still used 3mL H2O/ 3mL H2O2. In the first test we used a Room Temp. mixture and got a 8.587kPa result. The second test was a Cold temp. mixture and got a low pressure rate of 6.037kPa. In the third test we used a Warm Temp. mixture and got a pressure level of 8.569 kPa. In our fourth and final test we used a Hot Temp. mixture and got a pressure level of 7.427kPa. In this experiment the pressure seemed to jump around a little bit so we couldn't really find a pattern to it but I think if the water is too hot or cold the pressure will decrease.

This was the last experiment we did in this lab and was definitely different than the last two because instead of mixing the 3 mL H2O in with the 3mL H2O2 we replace the H2O with 3 mL different Ph leveled liquids but still used the 20 drops of yeast as in the second experiment. In the first test we did we used a pure acidic substance and in the result of it was 5.316kPa.In the second test we used a very neutral substance and the pressure level was 6.4 kPa. In the third and final test we used a pure basic substance which lasted to the pressure of 6.805kPa. So in the conclusion of this experiment as long as the substance is more basic it could withstand more pressure.

This experiment was fun in my opinion and hope we do more like this. Not only did I learn more about enzymes, but also how they effect certain things.

Membrane Structure

Membrane's are important because without them there would me no us. Biological membranes are sheetlike structures mostly made from lipids and proteins. Membrane-Lipids are in the bilayer and are 60 to100 Å(angstroms) thick. Protein membranes are spread all around the bilayer and perform the functions of the membrane. Both the lipids and proteins are constantly moving. Lipids are the primary determinants of the main structure, while the proteins carry out the membrane structure. Membranes are found everywhere and there are many different types. The plasma membrane surround cells and cells are what make up living things. The plasma membrane keeps the cells intact by holding all the cellular components inside. and it also protects it by keeping unwanted things outside of the cell. The membrane has may different functions that include signaling to other cells and transmitting the reaction into the cell itself, provides cell to cell contact that give direct communication. Membranes are actually permeable structures. 

The different parts of the membrane are obviously important towards it. The integral protein is a protein molecule that is permanently attached to the biological membrane and are hard to detach from the membrane. The peripheral protein is a protein that temporarily attaches to the membrane and it functions as sort of a communicator. The carbohydrates obviously are the sugars and other energy sources that help keep the membrane strong and functional. So not only did I learn about what the cell membrane does but I also learned about why it is used and a few terms and functions of it.

Cystic Fibrosis

CYSTIC FIBROSIS - A DISORDER OF MEMBRANE TRANSPORT

A great variety of proteins have roles in moving molecules and ions across cell membranes. Passive transport proteins permit certain substances to diffuse down concentration gradients by moving through the protein's interior. Active transport proteins use ATP energy to pump substances across the membrane against their concentration gradients. To investigate the importance of transport proteins, we will consider the effects of cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder in which there is a defect in a transport protein..

Activity

Part 1.

In this part of the activity you will visit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s web site to learn about the causes and symptoms of cystic fibrosis.

Use your browser to go to http://www.cff.org/home/

Use the information provided in the “About cystic fibrosis” section to answer the following questions:

1. What are the signs and symptoms of cystic fibrosis?
Salty tasting skin, persistent coughing; at times with phlegm, frequent lung infections, wheezing or shortness of breath, poor growth/weight gain in spite of good appetite, and frequent greasy, bulky stools or difficulty in bowel movements.

2. How common is this disorder?
30,000 people in the U.S. 70,000 people in the world

3. How is cystic fibrosis diagnosed?
Many tests such as the sweat test, newborn screening, and the genetic carrying test.

4. How is cystic fibrosis inherited? Does everyone who has a mutant gene for the protein have cystic fibrosis?
By getting the gene, 10 million people who live in the U.S. have a symptomless version on the defective gene.

Part 2.

In this part of the activity you will read an article to learn more about cystic fibrosis.

Use your browser to go to:

http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/MRC/3/page3.html

Use the information in this article to answer the following questions:

1. Explain the normal function of the protein that is defective in cystic fibrosis.
Normally, the movements of ions brings water to the surface of the airway and keeps the mucus moist. The defective gene acts to block the channels, which causes the mucus to dry out. It is then difficult for a person to shift the mucus, which then becomes prone to infection by bacteria.


2. What happens to this protein in CF patients and what are the consequences for the health of these individuals?


Part 3.

In this part of the activity you will read about how cystic fibrosis is treated.

Use your browser to go to:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cystic-fibrosis/DS00287

Use the information in the different sections of the article to answer the following questions:

1. Explain at least 3 treatments for the symptoms of cystic fibrosis.
Antibiotics, Mucus-thinning drugs, Bronchodilators
2. Discuss at least 3 ways for parents to help their children who have cystic fibrosis.
Chest clapper, Inflatable vest, Breathing devices

Ph lab

This is based on the PH lab that we did. What the experiment was suppose to represent was how antacids react to stomach acid and what effects it has. In the experiment that we did we used vinegar to represent the stomach acid and mixed different antacids with the vinegar to see how they would react and also checking the PH level. It is ranked 1-14 where the higher number is more of a base and the lower number is more of an acid. The acids show of a red or orange color on the PH paper. Bases show green or blue on the PH paper. The antacid that was the closest to a base was the Rolaids with a PH level of 6. The Equate Regular was closest to an acid with a PH level of 4. Vinegar, Peppermint Antacid, and Extra Rolaids were all more of an acid than a base with the PH level of 5.

The Understanding of H2O

Yesterday and the day before we did experiments on water. A couple of experiments we did were seeing how many drops of water from a pipette we can hold on a penny. Another experiment we did was connecting a string to 2 beakers, one with water and one without, then trying to move the water from the full beaker to the empty one with a string. The group in our class that transferred the most water with the string used 16.9 ft of string.

Did you know that all living this are made up of 70% to 90% water? Water is a substance that has a high heat capacity. I learned a lot about how water is one of the only substances that expands when it freezes. This is because when the molecules of water, 2 hydrogen molecules and 1 oxygen molecule, freeze they are shaped weird so they have trouble sticking together. Water is a polar molecule. It lets hydrogen atoms collaborate within water atoms. This is how living things exist and can carry on cellular properties. Water is a very neutral molecule because it is made of an H+ atom and a OH- atom and a positive and a negative connect.

Starting to understand a little more.

People are different than plants in a lot of obvious ways like the fact that people have brains and you have to do different kinds of experiments to find different things. Plants however need different things that humans need to survive. Today we had to find out a little bit about different kinds of variables such as independent and dependent variables. We did a online experiment that I couldn't understand so I looked up the definitions of the following words.

So the independent variable is the one that stands alone and the dependent variable depends on the independent variable. The dependent variable responds to the independent and its creates the results in the experiment. These results can be recorded so you can compare or show the data you recorded. The experiment can have many different trials and thats when you can show what you observed.



Controlled experiment


I looked at a couple different web sites