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.