Unit 2 Reflection

  In this unit, we started by learning about biochemistry, and why it's really important to know some chemistry as a biologist. The nature of matter was discussed, as well as protons(positive), neutrons(neutral), and electrons(negative). I also learned that an element is a pure substance with only one type of atom where an atom is the basic unit of matter. The different kinds of bonds are ionic bonds, which form when an atom gains or loses an electron, and covalent bonds, which form when electrons are shared between atoms. We also learned about water, and its attraction with cohesion, attraction between the same substance, and adhesion, attraction between different substances, and capillary action, which is cohesion and adhesion.

  We also learned about the properties of water, a substance necessary for life. Water is polar, so there is an unequal distribution of charge between H and O molecules, and polar substances are attracted to each other, and the strong hydrogen bonding, down to a molecular scale, has a stronger gravitational pull than the earth on an object.

The molecular structure of Sucrose, a disaccharide consisting of fructose and glucose, thus having 2 rings.

  Also, mixtures were discussed, where solutes are the things being dissolved, and solvents are what they are being dissolved in. A solution is when all compounds are evenly distributed throughout, and a suspension is a mixture of water and an undissolvable material because pieces are so small they do not settle out. Also the pH scale was described, where a number less than seven is acidic, greater than seven is basic, and equal to seven in neutral. Lastly, we learned that water is neutral, a hydrogen ion is positively charged with an ion, and a hydroxide ion is negatively charged with an electron.

The pH scale in comparison to common substances.

  The greater portion of this unit was spent explaining the four macromolecules of life, which are Carbohydrates, Lipids, Proteins, and nucleic acids. Carbohydrates are sugars(saccharides) that store energy for producers and provide energy for consumers, and they come in a ring form of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Also, one thing that I really was interested in was how HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) acts as a poison to the body, and is found everyday foods. Now I am more conscious about the food I am eating, and how dangerous processed foods can be.

  Then there are lipids, nonpolar molecules, that are made of long chains of hydrogen and oxygen, which are found mostly in fats and oils that store energy, make up cell membranes, and make hormones. We also talked about nucleic acids, which are made up of nucleotides that are built of a 5 carbon sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogen based molecule.They bond together to make 1, or 2 strands that form DNA, RNA, and ATP. Proteins like enzymes,which act as catalysts, speed up chemical reactions while lowering activation energy, and structural proteins, the building blocks of our body, are both extremely important for carrying out bodily functions. Sudden changes in pH and temperature can affect an enzyme by making it deformed in the process of denaturation. All in all, proteins, the polymers of amino acid monomers, support the body in numerous ways.

  

Diagram portraying enzyme functions and its components.

 Overall, I think I can use this exposition to biology as a guide to help me understand the basics that I need to understand for labs. The labs I completed applied the basic knowledge I had gained from the lesson, while also incorporating the important details that were implored as well. I feel like I was successful at understanding the material over time, by asking questions and actively participating in class, because at first glance it was hard to comprehend the topics from just the vodcast notes. Also,  the labs were both fun and interesting, which was a key factor to the active participation and its effect.

 

Sources:
"Enzyme Active Site and Substrate Specificity - Boundless Open Textbook." Boundless. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016. <https://www.boundless.com/biology/textbooks/boundless-biology-textbook/metabolism-6/enzymes-72/enzyme-active-site-and-substrate-specificity-350-11576/>.
"Fructose." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fructose>.
"PH." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016. <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/PH>.
"Hydrolysis." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrolysis>.
"Physical Science: The Structure of Matter Review Part Two." . N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016. <http://slideplayer.com/slide/5962551/>.

Sweetness Lab Analysis

   The structure of a carbohydrate affects its taste, because monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides are all different types of carbohydrates with a different number of rings. The greater number of rings in a carbohydrate makes the taste less sweet.
   Monosaccharides have the least number of rings, 1, and therefore are sweeter, unlike the polysaccharides with many rings, 3 or more that are not sweet, whereas the disaccharides are somewhere in between with 2 rings. The number of rings that affects the taste, also affects the structure of the carbohydrates, and how cells and organisms use them. Producers use carbohydrates to store energy, while consumers use it as their main source of energy.
   Not all testers gave each sample the same rating, but they were fairly close. The reasons could have been that some testers had slightly contaminated the samples with others by not wiping their fingers after tasting each sample, forgetting to take sips of water between tastes, resulting in an alteration of the flavor with the after taste of a previous substance, or by mixing substances unknowingly by not wiping the spoon off before placing each sample on the paper towel.
   Humans taste sweetness by the response of their taste receptors. When a sweet substance like sugar is on the tip of the tongue, receptor proteins on the outer tips of our taste cells are stimulated. These taste cells are located in the tastebuds, that contain 50-100 taste cells while only 25% of the cells respond to this sweetness in the central nervous system. Monosaccharides and disaccharide sweetners like glucose, fructose, and sucrose, are sweet compounds that respond to the metabolic condition of the taste cells. This isn't just an oral response, because the stimulation sends out hormones and sends signals to the brain. 

Sources: 
"Getting a Sense of How We Taste Sweetness." NPR. NPR, 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2016. <http://www.npr.org/2011/03/11/134459338/Getting-a-Sense-of-How-We-Taste-Sweetness>.

What is Biology? Collage

Jean Lab Conclusion

   In this lab, we asked the question of what concentration of bleach it would take to best fade out the color of denim material in 10 minutes without visible damage to the fabric. We found that the 100% bleach solution faded out the color best, although it did cause some minor damage. This damage to the fabric only caused the edges of the denim squares to fray. The color removal was not blotchy, but it faded the denim to a soft, light, blue color. Our average ranking for the color removal of this concentration was a 9/10. The ranking for fabric damage was considerably higher than the others, a 6.6/10, but it made up for the color removal. Bleach, a chemical compound, is also known as sodium hypochlorite. It stains or lightens fabric through the process of oxidation, where it removes pigment. This data supports our claim because the procedure we followed resulted in the idea that a full bleach solution can lighten denim material with minimal damage in only 10 minutes.
   While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the misuse of materials. Our group took some extra time because we only used 2 beakers and made separate solutions, rather than using 5 beakers for each. This could have affected the experiment by making the solution measurements inaccurate due to not washing the beaker thoroughly each time. Also, the rankings might have been a little imprecise because some of the denim was already a slightly lighter than the rest. Fortunately, there was little effect to those denim squares as altogether. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend preparing our lab materials with awareness.
   This lab was done to demonstrate a basic understanding of lab procedures and etiquette in class. The procedure could improve by giving more detailed instructions in the Jean Lab packet, to avoid mistakes like ours.  From this lab I learned that pigment extracting fluids, such as bleach is a positive control that shows results, whilst water, a negative control, makes a solution of the concentration a lot weaker. I could clearly see the qualitative results on the denim, while I properly used quantitative data in a table, and I was able to analyze it easily. Based on my experience from this lab, I strongly believe that I have a clear idea on how to execute a lab, and what the environment is like when running labs in the classroom.

Sources: 
Brennan, Carol, "bleach." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009, T., and "bleach." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. "Bleach." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 1996. Web. 05 Sept. 2016. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Bleach.aspx>.

Data table displaying results. 

Results of bleached denim.