Up Up and Away Blog Lab Report

UP UP AND AWAY

A group lab report by Mason, Abhinov, Mike, and Joel

Materials Used:

Glass Stirring Rod

Two 500 Ml containers

Baking Soda

Distilled Water

Liquid Dish washing Detergent.

Leaves from Hedera or Spinacia families    

Aluminum Foil

Stopwatch

Camera

2 clear plastic cups

Hole Puncher

Syringe

Procedure:

1. Make a sodium bicarbonate solution in a beaker by combining the baking soda with the distilled water, then mix
2. Add detergent, and stir gently
3. Use a hole puncher to make 60 leaf disks.
4. Make a vacuum in the syringe with 30 of the leaf disks.
5. Put this in a clear cup with the solution, covered in foil
6. Repeat step 4 and 5 but with the cup in the light.
7. Set a stopwatch for 21 minutes and count how many disks rise every minute.

Hypothesis: If the leaf disks are left in the water for a longer amount of time, more leaves will experience photosynthesis and raise to the top.

Purpose: The purpose of this lab was to learn about photosynthesis and how is is triggered. The light and water in the experiment along with the solution sped up the process and demonstrated how it worked. 

Results and Data:

Line graph of the Data we found during the Lab. It seems like the dark treatment barely had any photosynthetic reactions while the light reaction cup was steadily rising for 21 minutes.

This is a video of two leaf disks rising under the light cup.

Picture of the leaf disks rising in the light cup.

Graph of our original Data.

Analysis: Our results showed that my hypothesis was correct, the longer the disks are in the water with light, the more photosynthesis will go on. As the line graph showed, there was a steady raise of 1 or 2 disks per minute. The disks rise slowly, as shown in the video. This means that the photosynthesis reaction happens slowly or the density of the leaves are slowly lowered. Our light reaction seemed to work out well, while our dark reaction had a few issues. This could meant that photosynthesis is impossible without light, or there was scientific error on our end.

Conclusion: Our photosynthesis experiment was successful and we learned a lot. We concluded that the rate of photosynthesis depends on the amount of light being received. The more light, the faster the leaves rose.

In this lab activity, we tried to find out how much oxygen would come out of the catalyst reaction. My hypothesis is that the more enzyme we put in the hydrogen peroxide, the more oxygen will be produced. The procedure began with us getting a test tube and putting varying amounts of enzyme in the tube. Then we put it underwater and measured how much oxygen comes out using a second test tube.

Picture of the enzymes in the tube.                  

Picture of the water we used.                          

Picture of the enzymes getting ready for use.

Picture of the completed reaction chamber.   

Start of the lab with all of the materials.        

Table with our Data.                                  

My hypothesis was proved because more oxygen was leaked with four enzymes than when we had one enzyme. We did this lab to explain enzymes and how they work with the environment. I learned that reactions can be sped up by adding more enzymes.

Interstellar Advanced Screening

• the scientific, mathematics, and humanitarian questions raised by the film

One of the main scientific questions asked by the film was how gravity effects others in a different time, area, and dimension. Another question was how far would you go to save humanity, or would you save humanity or your family?

• what you learned about relativity

I learned that massive objects with gravity can have an effect on space and time. I also learned how gravity is so strong it goes through dimensions.

• the importance of gravity in the movie

Gravity was the main theme of the movie. Gravity went through dimensions, and it was used to send a message through time.

• your thoughts on time travel and wormholes

I think that "time travel" is actually just time moving slower in a specific location. It will never be possible to create a time machine unless we slow down time enough that we can go BACK in time. I doubt we will ever be able to go to the future. Wormholes seem like a myth to me, even though they can exist. They are like portals from one area to another which seems very science "fictiony" and entertainment value driven. 

• the possibility of sustaining life on planets other than earth

I believe there is life on other planets than Earth, and that there can be life on other planets. This seems very possible to me because there are billions of galaxies and solar systems, and we cannot be unique. Even if the organisms are uni-cellular and very simple, I believe they are out there somewhere.

• challenges presented in the movie that you can relate to

One challenge that I related to well was the struggle between family and a bigger problem. You have to sacrifice something and you are not going to like it. I also related to the challenge of lying to someone to get a better result. When the professor lied about plan A to save the human race, I felt like that was something that many people have to go through, and it was a tough decision.

• challenges presented in the movie that you cannot relate to

I couldn't relate to the challenge of killing someone to save the human race. Not only was that hypocritical, but Dr. Mann was trusted by so many people. He ended up almost committing homicide to save a race.

• how the movie has changed your understanding of science, space-time, and what's important in our day-to-day lives

The movie gave me a greater understanding of gravity and how gravity effects time through dimensions and space. It was also a dark omen to what could happen to our planet if we are not careful with what we do. We should all make sure to treat the planet the best we can so it survives.

I do not have a picture of me at the museum but I do however have a picture of diet coke.

In this lab activity, we tried to find out if osmosis works in other ways than cells. My hypothesis is that even though it seems like the packages are “waterproof” the material will still leak out. The procedure started by getting bags of starch and glucose and putting them in the water. We would then put iodine into the starch bag and wait twenty minutes. After the twenty minutes, we would look at the results and get a glucose chart and look at the glucose level in the water.

The picture on the left is the starch while the glucose is on the right.This picture shows the starch at the beginning when we poured the iodine in.

This is a picture of the glucose levels results.

This is after twenty minutes of having the iodine in the starch. This means the iodine leaked into the starch.

This picture shows the starch at the beginning when we poured the iodine in.

This picture is the iodine we used. We used 15 drops.

My hypothesis was proved because in the glucose container, the glucose leaked into the water, as shown by the picture above. In the starch container, the iodine leaked into the starch making a blue color. We did this lab to explain osmosis and the transmission of fluids and materials between cells and the environment. I learned that cells try to have an equal amount of X as the environment.

Strawberry DNA Extraction Lab Report

Last Monday, our lab group completed the Strawberry DNA lab. We did this to show DNA structure, and what it looks like in real life. It was also to show us how easy it is to extract DNA. My hypothesis for this lab is that when you extract DNA, you can see it clearly floating around. This lab was completed in a few steps. First,  we made the extraction buffer out of dish washing detergent, salt, and water. We then put the strawberry and the extraction fluid together and mixed it. After that happened, we isolated the DNA using a funnel and cheesecloth. Finally, we added ice cold alcohol to separate the juice and the DNA.

Picture of the Cheesecloth and the funnel.

DNA Final Extraction. The white swirly stuff near the top is the DNA.

This is us pouring in the extraction fluid.

My hypothesis was proved because when you extracted the DNA the DNA was clear at the top. I feel like DNA can be manipulated once extracted like this. This lab made me realize how easy it is to find DNA. I also think that there is a lot of DNA in a small area. We took one strawberry and found a bunch of DNA. The resulting DNA was smaller than I expected, but it still was very large compared to the rest of biological material.