Unit 3 Reflection

This unit was about how Photosynthesis worked, and all the details. I learned about how the cell was discovered, and also how the cell can be like a factory. It was essential to understand the parts of the cell, and how they affect the processes of the cell. It also was essential to understand the steps of photosynthesis. I was successful at understanding how photosynthesis worked, but memorizing all the parts of the cell was a setback. It also was difficult memorizing all the terms. I learned that memorization is a huge part of biology. I also actually began to understand what cells are. Cells have always been a mystery to me, and I actually understand how cells work. I want to learn more about how cells react. How do they know where they are going? Is is possible to watch a cell's processes? I am planning on reviewing all my notes, and looking at portions of vodcasts. I also am going to fill out some blank pictures of cells to try and test my understanding.

Egg diffusion lab

Kyle Chidlow

Period 4

October 7, 2015

Egg DiffusionLab

In this lab, we originally put some eggs into vinegar. This dissolved the shell, and then we start our experiment. We took two eggs (both of them have no shell, just membrane) and placed one into deionized water and the other one into sugar water. We left the eggs for a while, and then looked at them. The egg in deionized water got slightly bigger, for some reason the my group’s egg didn’t get bigger, and the egg in sugar water shriveled up. 

While looking at class data, it was common that the egg shrank when put into sugar water. This is because of a process called diffusion. Since the inside of the egg had a higher water content than the outside of the egg, the water moved out of the egg. This lead to an extreme decrease of the size of the egg. On the other hand, the egg size/mass increased when the egg was put in deionized water because the water passed inside the cell.

In this experiment, the cell membrane was pretty much the main reason anything changed in the cell. Diffusion was the main process that we tested in this experiment. This is probably why eggs are surrounded by a protective shell. The shell protects the egg against diffusion, and also things popping the egg. It also demonstrates how sensitive cells are to their surrounding conditions.

Vegetables are sprinkled with water because the skin of the vegetable can absorb that water. Salt is used to melt ice, but it destroys the plants on the side of the road. Usually there are not too many plants on the edge of a road where they salt the area all the time. 

After doing this experiment, I would like to test what different liquids do to an egg. How would lemon juice vs soap affect an egg? I would also like to test putting salt water on cells, and observing their changes in a microscope. This would be a very interesting way to observe the changes.

Macromolecules lab conclusion.

In this lab, we asked the question if macromolecules could be found in an egg cell. With use of the chemicals: Iodine, Sodium Hydroxide, Copper Sulfate, and Sudan III or IV, we were able to find the cells. When we were looking for monosaccharides, we found them in the egg white and yolk. When looking for lipids, we found them in the yolk, egg white, and membrane. We found protein in the yolk, egg white, and membrane. We on only found monosaccharides in the yolk and egg white. When testing for lipids, the chemical we used turned orange when lipids were present. When testing for protein, the chemical turned purple when the protein was present.When testing for polysaccharide, the chemical turned black when polysaccharides were present. The chemical turned green when monosaccharides were present. Since membranes are made out of lipids, it isn't a surprise that we found lipids in the membrane.Protein helps the egg develop, and we found protein in all parts of the egg. Polysaccharides provide energy/food for the egg, so its not too surprising that polysaccharides were found in all parts of the cell. The color changes support my claim because it is the only way to find out where and if the macromolecules are present. One error that might have occurred is contamination. This could lead to false results because of the color change even if there shouldn't be a color change. A second possible error is judgement. Judgement sounds like a silly error; however, it actually is very easy to come across. Sometimes the color may slightly change, so you need to determine if the macromolecules are/aren't present. My first recommendation would be to wash all the tools before changing parts of the egg. My second recommendation would be to get another persons opinion if you are not sure with the color change! The purpose of this lab was to separate the parts of an egg, and find out where certain macromolecules are located. I remember learning about the cell wall in class, and this experiment allowed us to take pieces of the cell wall, and test to see what macromolecules were there. After learning about this, you could use this knowledge with anything related to cells because you have physically touched and looked at one. Now you can use this as a visual whenever thinking about cells.