The Composition of the Universe

The Composition of the Universe 

My research question is what is the Universe made of. I am interested in it because it amazes me on just how big it is, and how it came to be. The current hypothesis is that its made of dark matter, dark energy, and atoms like those that surround us.  However, 95% of the universe's composition is still unknown.

What is the Universe made of?

How was the Universe made? 

How did simple cells develop into humans and such?

How did the first cells come to be? 

Is extra-terrestrial life real?

Is a time-machine impossible to make? 

What does a black hole do?

Where does a black hole store the stuff it eats?

Who owned the first pets?

What is consciousness mad of? 

Can human life be expanded through technology?

At what temperature will greenhouse gases stop warming our air?

What are cheap renewable resources that could replace oil?

Is there a cure cancer?

Is there a physical limit to how smart someone can be?

What makes us "human"?

Does biology apply to the rest of the universe?

How can bodies automatically repair themselves?

How are fears wired into our brains?

Is extraterrestrial life different then ours, if it exists? 

Identifying Questions and Hypothesis

 Identifying Questions and Hypothesis

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments#Initial_conformity_experiment

The study I found was the Asch conformity experiment. This was a psychological experiment designed to study how the subject would react to the actor's behavior. In the eighteen tests completed, seven actors and one participant were told to match a line of a certain length with its twin. They were given three different lines to choose from. In these experiments, the participant didn't know that the others were actors, who were told to choose the wrong line. Solomon Asch hypothesized that the test subject would conform their response to the same line that the actors chose, whether it be obviously wrong or right. He based this off what he observed throughout the time, and how rumors and false facts appeared. 

Unit 2 Reflection

This unit was about the chemistry of life.  We learned about subatomic particles (protons, neutrons, and electrons) , isotopes (all isotopes of an element have the same chemical properties), and the main types of chemical bonds (covalent bonds and ionic bonds). We also learned about the properties of water, and about its polarity because of its uneven distribution of electrons (between oxygen/hydrogen molecules), and what pH values stand for (higher than 7 = basic, lower than 7 = acidic).  We learned about the four groups of organic compounds found in living things (carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins), and about chemical reactions and how enzymes speed them up.  

I understand about the four macromolecules and what they all do.  I don't exactly understand the different types of chemical bonds, but I get the concept of them.  I learned a lot about managing the demands of the class, including using my class time wisely to work on assignments such as conclusions, and making sure I have enough time to watch the vodcasts. I learned that I work well in group settings, and we completed labs quickly and efficiently, even with some side conversations.  I learned to work efficiently in class so that I didn't have as much homework, and to take the time each day to complete part of the chapter notes, so that it won't pile up. 

I want to learn more about nucleic acids anyhow they are arranged in DNA and RNA.  I don't have any unanswered questions, as the textbook and podcasts have been very thorough. I wonder about how the nucleic acids can determine so much when they are so tiny. 

 Curdle Conclusion

In this experiment we wanted to find the optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese.  We found that the best curdling agents  were acidic and hot with the enzyme chymosin. When the milk/enzyme solution was cold or basic, or when the enzyme added was buttermilk or none,  then it did not curdle at all.  When the curdling agent was acid, both chymosin and rennin took 5 minutes to curdle. When the curdling agent was Hot, chymosin took 5 minutes to curdle and rennin took 10 minutes.  When the curdling agent was basic or cold, neither chymosin or rennin curdled.  Research shows that enzymes speed up the milk curdling process, by helping to break apart the substrate caesin. In other words, more product in less time.  This data supports our claim because we found that by using the enzymes chymosin and rennin we speed up the reaction, allowing us to test it or make more curdles, before the untouched milk is even done with the first reaction.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the enzyme/milk not being checked at exactly the right time. Instead of 5 minutes, it could have been checked at 5:15 or 4:55. This could have changed our findings because the milk could have curdled at exactly 5 minutes and if we checked it before then we could come to the conclusion that it wasn’t curdled and wait another 5 minutes.  Also, we could have inaccurately measured the enzyme. If we put too much we could have sped up the process, and too little we could have slowed it down, thus warping the timed results. Due to these errors, in future labs I would recommend that we have three people dropping the enzyme in, and three more people putting the solution in each temperature setting. By doing this it would make the setup not only faster but also more accurately timed. When one person measured and dropped each enzyme in, each solution was put into its temperature setting at different times, and thus producing inaccurate results. We could have also been standing right next to each temperature setting so that right as the clock hit 5:00 minutes we could have checked the enzyme/ milk solution and made our results much more accurate.

This lab was done to demonstrate the effects of enzymes such as chymosin and rennin on the time it takes to curdle milk, or make cheese. In a larger sense, this lab showed the effect of enzymes on their substrate, and what their product is. It showed just how much enzymes speed up reactions.  From this lab I learned the full extent of the enzyme’s work, and which conditions (temperature and pH) they work best in,  which helps me understand the concept of how they work and why the conditions affect them. Based on my experience from this lab, I now am fully convinced that I could make cheese using rennin or chymosin, by using my knowledge of their prime conditions and about the cheese making process.

Sweetness Lab Analysis

Sweetness Lab Analysis

The purpose of this lab was to study the level of sweetness of different carbohydrate structures. Based on our observations during our Sweetness Lab, we found that monosaccharides are generally sweeter than both disaccharides and polysaccharides.  We found that the four sweetest Carbohydrates were sucrose (100), glucose (80), fructose (130), and galactose (50), all but one monosaccharides. The three least sweet Carbohydrates were lactose, starch, and cellulose, a disaccharide and two polysaccharides. The monosaccharides were also more commonly found in fruits, which taste sweet. This proves that monosaccharides are generally sweeter because three out of the three monosaccharides in our experiment were in the top 4 sweetest carbs, and two out of the two polysaccharides were in the bottom three.  

Carbohydrate structures might affect how they are used by cells and organisms because different structures or number of rings make up different saccharides. These different saccharides have different amounts of energy which can be used in different ways in the body. Some only have a little energy and can only do small tasks, while others have a lot of energy and do big tasks in our bodies. That is how the different carbohydrate structures might affect how they are used in organisms.

No, all the testers in our classroom did not give the sample the same rating. One reason why could be that we have different tastebuds. Another reason could be that we have different tastes in food. Some people might not eat or like sugar as much as others, and so the sugars will taste excessively sweet to them.  A third reason could be that the testers got different amounts of sugar, making it taste sweeter or more bland. Humans taste sweetness because each person had taste buds, which contain about 50-100 taste cells inside. About 25% respond to sweetness, and the rest split between other tastes.
The tongue tastes using taste buds, according to  live science.com. Testers could rank the sweetness of the samples (same samples) but this time have a fixed amount they have to pick up.

What is Biology? Collage

What is Biology? Collage

file:///Users/sashapickard/Downloads/Biology.jpg