What I learned on 12/9/16 in Mr. Wong's bio class/ The Quiz

We had a test today. I feel as if I did pretty well on it. Looking at the answers, half of my wrong answers were just stupid mistakes, which I should have gotten correct.

I am not a big fan of bio tests, but I did learn some things while looking at my wrong answers. For example, the rate of photosynthesis levels off after a while, no matter how much light is being shined onto a plant. I thought that both would go up at an equal rate indefinitely. Another thing I studied but forgot on the test was the definition of granum. It is, according to Mr. Wong, a "stack of thylakoids."

I was surprised that there were no questions about Melvin Calvin, the discoverer of the Calvin cycle, on the quiz. He has a big role in the science of photosynthesis, so I thought he deserved at least one question.

Photosynthesis Lab

For this lab, I tried to find out a way to measure photosynthesis and to see any changing factors in photosynthesis. This was a two-day lab with different results and procedures each time.

On the first day, I established how to complete the lab. To do the lab, I cut a leaf into six circular bits, then made a vacuum to release oxygen and close pores letting oxygen out. After that, the leaf bits were dropped into a solution of water, a pinch of baking soda, and a drop of liquid detergent. I put it under light and got my results. Four minutes and 30 seconds after the cup was put under a light, the first leaf bit was at the top of the cup. At 8 minutes and 50 seconds, two more were at the top. Eleven minutes after putting the leaf bits under the light, I was out of time and disallowed the final three leaf bits to rise to the top. This was under a lamp emitting white light.

On the second day, more factors were added to the situation. Instead of six bits, I cut a leaf into twenty bits. The same general process was carried out, but leaf bits were put in one of two containers this time. One covered in blue cellophane wrap, the other in yellow cellophane wrap. The two wrapped jars were put next to each other in the sunlight. Here are the results:

The outcomes were very interesting. The leaf bits under the blue light photosynthesized easily, while the yellow light leaves barely did anything. You can see on the graph at left that all 10 leaves under blue light photosynthesised within a quick ten minute period, while only two leaves under yellow light had time to photosynthesize. The color differentiation really changed the results of photosynthesis. Below this graph is another one, as well as pictures of the leaf-bit-containers.

Yellow covered leaf bits (day 2)

Blue covered leaf bits (day 2)

Clear leaf bits (day 1)

What I learned in Mr. Wong's Biology class on 12-8-2016.

Today in Mr. Wong's bio class, I learned about the color of light affecting photosynthesis. You can read about it more in the post above this one (titled Photosynthesis Lab). Anyway, to see how one variable can change an outcome greatly, I did an experiment twice but only changed one thing. That thing was the color of light being shined onto the plant. I put two cups of leaf bits into water next to each other and covered each with colored cellophane wrap. One was colored with blue and the other, yellow.

Anyway, what I learned today in bio class was that photosynthesis occurred much faster under yellow light than blue light. It wasn't even close. All 10 leaf bits in yellow light photosynthesized before one blue leaf bit could. There was no competition.

What I learned in Mr.Wong's Biology class on 12-7-2016.

Today in Mr. Wong's bio class, we did a lab relating to leaf photosynthesis. To learn about it, see a higher up blog post. While doing this lab, I learned about many factors affecting photosynthesis. Here they are.

1. Light levels.
Light is a necessary object in photosynthesis. All leaves need some sort of light to create glucose. This can even be a flashlight! The whole point of the lab was to get leaves to rise from under water, and they would only rise with light.

2. Type of plant.
I did this activity in a group. Each of us had different types of plants wit different looking leaves. Some leaf bits rose, and others stayed at the bottom of the cup. In one specific type of leaf, zero leaf bits rose. This really shows how plant species affects photosynthesizing.

There are way more factors than this affecting photosynthesis. These are just the two major ones I witnessed and learned about today in Mr. Wong's biology class.

What I learned in Mr.Wong's Biology class on 12-6-2016.

Today in biology, we continued to learn about photosynthesis, especially the Calvin Cycle. Named after Melvin Calvin, this cycle helps the process of photosynthesis and is not directly dependent on light. After receiving three carbon molecules from CO2, the carbons are added with rubisco (Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase) to three RuBP molecules. Each RuBP immediately becomes unstable and breaks int two 3-phosphoglycerate molecules. Each of the six 3-phosphoglycerates turns into 1,3-phosphoglycerates after taking one phosphorus from an ATP and turning it into an ADP. Then, 6 protons come in and take a phosphate, leaving 6 G3P's. One leaves to become glucose or another compound. In stage 3, the remaining G3P molecules re-bond with each other and three phosphates from ATP to make 5 RuBPs.

This part is dependent on items produced by the light-dependent reactions. The two are intertwined.

VIrtual Photosynthesis Lab

During an online lab, I learned about colors of light affecting the growth of different plants. 

The three plants (spinach, radishes, and lettuce) were tested against red, orange, blue, green, and violet lights. After the computer aged the plants to 30 days under normal growing conditions and under the given color light, it spawned a plant. I measured the plant (actually 3) then averaged the heights. 

What I found was that all three plants grow generally the same as each other. The only major change in heights happened because of light color, not species. All plants grew a lot under red light. It dipped down to orange, and continued to dip when under green light. Under blue light, the heights were close to the heights under red light. Going to violet light means growing less. A graph and table showing exactly that are at the bottom. 

One very interesting thing I learned was that the reason plants grew less under green light involve their color. Since they look green to us, that means they reflect green. If they reflect green then they don't take it in as much. Therefore, green light makes them grow less.

Elodea Leaf Cells

While looking at plant cells from Mrs. Wong's pond in science, I found these top two images. The top image is magnified by 100X. The little circle you see is an air bubble on top of the cell. The only cell part you can see is the cell wall. The bottom image is magnified by 40X. Again, the striped part is the cell wall. These are the same cells at different magnifications. Below is my drawing of the cell magnified by 40X.

Pond Water Microorganisms

While looking at pond water in science today, I found a microorganism. It is some kind of worm and clearly moves around. To see the video I took of the worm moving around, click here or on the link below. Even though the video quality is bad, you can still see the creature moving around.

https://youtu.be/uECz1WgaC2U 

Altoids Box Survival Kit

If you were stuck in any biome and could only use items that you can pack into an Altoids box to survive, what would you put in that box? This is the question asked to me when I started this project. The environment I thought of when creating this project was a mountainous area, like the Rockies. Most of the mountains would be covered in snow, but there would be lots of dry land toward the bottom, where I would stay. With that in mind, here are a few pictures of my Altoid box survival kit.

Here are the items in the box. They are ranked in order of importance.

One of the most important things in there are matches. Nights may be cold and any meat would need to be cooked. Matches provide fire, which provides warmth. If you don't have any of that, you die. An ecological term to describe why I most need matches is heat.

Next, I would have a swiss army knife. I don't have one at home, so I put a little pair of scissors in the box instead of a real knife. These pocket-sized multitools can be handy for many things, including defending against predators, cutting items, and getting/ killing animals that may be food. One ecological term to describe this knife is food-chain, as this knife would keep me higher on this web.

The third most important thing is a flashlight. First of all, a light source will allow me to see in the dark when night vision and light are important. Secondly, if there were any other humans in this area, the best way to attract their attention is a big light. This flat, pocket-sized light would likely allow me to have communication with another human being, who I can trade with or partner up to help each other survive. Since this tool is mostly used for interaction with another human, the ecological term I would assign to a flashlight is coexistence.

Fourth on the list is rope or string. This can be used to mend anything broken and hold other items together. Tying things together just makes everything easier to organize. Along with the next item, some rope can be used to make a fishing line. String and rope can be ecologically defined as an all-purpose surviving tool.

Paper clips are the next item on this list. As stated earlier, paper clips can be folded into the shape of fish hooks. I assume that fish would be my primary source of food if I was in this environment. Along with that, paper clips can be folded into hooks to defend me from other animals. Ecologically, paper clips are for interaction with other species.

Along with all of these other tools, I have a gauze. If I am alone in the middle of nowhere and get hurt, no medical attention is close meaning that I need to help myself or die. A gauze would stop bleeding and help me in the most desperate times. Knowing that these pads are used to improve the safety of someone, I would assign it the ecological terms safety and medical help.

One necessity of humans is energy. To survive, we must have a source of energy and use it efficiently if we don't have much of it. If I could not find anything edible, I would eat the Altoids that I brought with me. Along with providing energy, they provide sugar, which would give me a boost. Knowing that Altoids are specifically for energy, they get the ecological term, energy.

Virtual Ecology Lab

While learning about the study of animals and their environments, we completed a virtual ecology lab in biology class. This lab taught us about animals in several biomes and how they interact with other animals. While doing this, we also learned about the food chain and different types of diets.

Here is a table showing what biomes and food group each animal is in.

Some information about the deciduous forest ecosystem is shown here. The animals are shown in their food groups. This chart also shows energy transfer between animals.

Virtual Enzyme Lab

In science today, we did an online lab about how enzymes, substrates, and pH affect each other. Here is a graph showing how they react at 37 degrees Celsius. The different colors represent different pH levels. The higher bars means that more molecules were created. One interesting fact that I learned is that there is no difference between 4 grams and 8 grams of substrate. If you look at the graph, the amount of molecules formed per minute is exactly the same in those two measures.

Eyedropper Hydrometer

In science today, we made a hydrometer, which is a device that measures density of liquids. We constructed the hydrometers to see how dense water is compared to other liquids. 

To make the hydrometer, we cut off part of an eyedropper and put rocks into it until the bottom pocket was about halfway full. Then, we sealed off the top with clay and let it dry. Once it was made, we put it in various liquids and drew markings which showed how high the liquid went on the hydrometer. 

In the picture below, the top green line marks rubbing alcohol, the middle purple line marks tap water, and the bottom line marks salt water, which is the most dense of the liquids. 

When using the hydrometer, one would drop the tool in a liquid and check how low it goes into the liquid. The number or marking the liquid reaches shows its density.

One thing difficult about making the hydrometer was adding the weight. I used miniature rocks as a ballast, at putting them down the stem of the tool was challenging due to the stem's small size. In the future, this tool can be used for measuring any densities of liquids.

Money Under a Microscope

In science, we got to look at items under a microscope. Here is a picture of a magnified dollar bill.

We Are Our Bacteria Meme

My First Blog Entry: Stuff I Still Don't Know!

One of the many questions I have about biology is 'why do humans age'? Since most cells in our body replace themselves often with exact duplicates, why can't we keep getting new, better cells? What makes the cells replicate differently? In the past, I heard that we have caps on our chromosomes that get cut in half every time a cell divides, but if the things that makes humans age aren't related to chromosomes, how does that make cells die? This question interests me because aging and dying is a part of life and I want to know why it happens.

Another question I have about science is 'does the five second rule exist'? It makes sense that less germs would be on a piece of food that fell on the ground, but is it safe to eat? Does the amount of germs on that food item grow substantially bigger after five seconds? This question intrigues me because I have accidentally dropped so much food on the ground in my life, and I want to know how much time I have before it is unsafe to eat.