Photosynthesis

What is photosynthesis? (other than a big word (; )
It is a process, in which, protistans (mainly plants) use energy from the sun to make sugar.. then cellular respiration converts it into ATP (or the fuel).

Here is the reaction...
6H2O + 6CO2 ---> C6H12O6_6O2
or in other words..
six molecules of water plus six molecules of carbon dioxide produce one molecule of sugar plus six molecules of oxygen!

Here's how it works:
When we breathe out Carbon Dioxide the plant takes it up in the leaves. Then when it rains the plant takes it up through the soil. These two mix together in the chloroplast where light is trapped. These to make the substance glucose.

The plants use the energy from the sun(which is converted into chlorophyll) to mix together the Carbon Dioxide, water, and light. This creates food for the plants.

From here on, the process restarts itself.

Just incase you wanted to know, the green pigment in chlorophyll is what makes the plant green! (:

CELLS!

So basically science isn't my best subject! But, the one thing I do enjoy learning about is cells. (thanks to Robert Hooke -- the man who discovered them!) (: Don't ask why, because i'm not sure! ha but here is some information that i gathered...

Bacteria is single celled.. but certain things like animals (us) are multicellular.. we have about 100 trillion cells!

Most cells are not visible to the unaided eye because, they are so tiny. In fact, one of the only visible cells to the unaided eye is the human egg.. BUT cells are pretty important in all living things. They are so small that even under a microscope they seem tiny. You may be able to see things like the nucleus with the help of a microscope. In other words, cells are pretttttty small! This is one place size doesn't matter, cells carry out a number of tasks.

There are two different types of cells: plants & animals. The main difference between the two is a cell wall, which a plant has and the animal doesn't. This shapes and supports the cell.

Here's what each cell does have:

Cell membrane: think of this as "skin" it let's things in and out.

Chlorophyll: (in plants) this traps light and is used to produce food.. yummy.

Chlororplasts: (again in plants) think of this as the kitchen! food is made here..

Chromosomes: think of this as the computer (: these contain codes that guide cell activites..

Cytoplasm: it's just a jellylike substance

Endoplasmic reticulum: surface for chemical activity

Golgi bodies: these little things store & release chemicals

Lyosome: think of this as the tummy! it's the digestive center

Mircotubule: hollow cylinder that supports and shapes cell

Mitochondria: the powerhouse!

Nuclear membrane: holds the nucleus together!

Necleolus: body inside the nucleus

Nucleus: where the chromosomes live!

Plastid: stores food. -fridge (:

Ribosomes: another kitchen! proteins are made.

Vacuole: this contains water & dissolved minerals

I know it's not easy to remember.. so here's a picture of an animal cell

and.. a plant cell:

Cells are the center of living things. Without them, we wouldn't exsist. There are plenty more details that I could explain about cells, so know these are just the basics. (:

Here's a YOUTUBE video on cells (:

PKU

PKU is a treatable disorder that is inherited. Children get it from both parents that have one of the mutated genes. If their PAH enzyme is off then the child is at risk for this disorder. It affects the body’s ability to break down an amino acid called Phenylalanine (Phe).  If it's not treated the child could suffer from mental retardation. It can also cause Hyperphenylalaninaemia which can damage brain tissue. In infants, if this happens it can trigger brain related issues throughout life if it's not treated. In adults, it's bad for this to happen because it causes slow reaction and decrease of intellegence. It also may cause anxiety. This also effects children greatly because they have to change their lifestyle because of it. They have to change their diet and the way they eat for as long as possible because it is a form of treatment. They can not eat things with high protein like meet, cheese, milk, and such. In order for doctors to catch this disorder they check newborns blood so they can see if they have elevated levels of certain things or, the protein BH4. This disorder is found mostly in white children (1 in 10,000) and the number get lower in other races. It's very rare in African Americans. This basically happens when you have both parents that have an enzyme that isn't working correctly and the child inherits it. The child gets a build up of a certain protein, which isn't good. The only good thing about this disorder is that it is treatable if it's caught early enough. In the past, doctors placed kids with PKU in a state of severe mental retardation but now it's understood that it is treatable which is great! 

Enzyme Lab - Kiel, Leigh, Jodi, & Ali!

On the first day, our task was to place a variation of drops of yeast in the test tube and see what happened. This graph shows that the more drops of yeast makes the rate go up. The more enzymes placed into the test tube creates more pressure in the test tube.

On the second day of our experiment, we tested what would happen if we changed the temperature of the test tube. The first test tube we place into ice old water at about 25 degrees. The pressure was lower than the normal temperature. The second test tube was placed into luke warm water. This test tube had the most extreme reaction to the yeast out of the three. As you can see in the graph, as the temperature climbs between 25 and 80 degrees the pressure is building greatly. When we got the last test tube (hot water) and put the same amount of yeast into the test tube, we experienced about the same thing that we did with cold water. The pressure was going back down to where is was. I can conclude that enzymes work better in a luke warm temperature than an extreme cold or hot. 

Heres a video of our experiment... IN ACTION(:

(this was probably the coolest part! glad I got it on video right?)

This was day three I believe. The lower the pH level of the test tube made the pressure lower. As the pH level climbed after a certain amount of time the pressure climbed also. Therefore, the higher the pH level the more pressure you got. 

CONCLUSION: After this lab, I learned a lot of things. I wasn't aware that temperature effected enzymes from working like it did. I had figured that the more enzymes you had the more they worked, as you do with anything. There are many things that can effect how enzymes work.. but I did end up learning a lot!!

Article Research (:

So on my quest to get caught up before the semester ends I ran across this article about cells and how researchers built genetic devices to program cell's actions. I figured it would go great for one of my standards (research) so I decided to read more on it.

Here is the link: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/66729/title/RNA%2C_obey .... check it out!

I thought it was pretty interesting because a biochemical engineer, Christina Smolke, and her colleagues have created RNA devices that can pretty much be programed the way we can program a computer! They think someday they might be able to do this to plants that way they can alter their cells to make certain protiens during droughts to stay alive. This also may be a cure for cancer because of the way the cells can be programed. They can be "told" to make certain protiens or do certain things that way things with your body go a certain way. Cool right? The new invention is based on eons-old genetic material, or RNA molecules. Since the cells can be altered they had to come up with a sort of "security system" so make sure only one intruder can alter the cells. Their first device made the human kidney cells glow with a fluoresent protien when the RNA deteced a protein from a virus that infects bacteria. These are just examples of what researchers are going to be able to do in the future! It's crazy how far we have came with technology.

Photosynthesis "Dry Lab"

Materials:
3 Aquarium Snails
5 medium size beakers
Heat lamp
100 mL of water per beaker
BTB (bromothymol blue)
3 Elodea (aquarium plant)

Procedure:
1. Take all your materials out.
2. Put 100 mL of water in all four beakers
3. Take Beaker 1 and put 15 drops of BTB in the beaker. Let the beaker sit for a couple minutes until you notice changes.
4. Take Beaker 2 place 15 drops of BTB
5. Place the snail into the beaker
6. Observe what happens & record it.
7. Take Beaker 3 and place 15 drops of BTB into the breaker with the Elodea
8. Place under heat lamp until you notice changes.
9. Record changes
10. Take Beaker 4. Place 15 drops of BTB in the beaker along with the snail and Elodea
11. Place under light until you observe changes.
12. Record them.
13. Take the last beaker (5) and place 15 drops of BTB in the beaker along with the snail and Elodea.
14. Place in the dark for three hours.
15. Observe changes.

This is probably what you noticed:
Water plus BTB is blue-green
Water plus BTB plus a snail turns yellow
Water plus BTB plus Elodea is blue green in the light
Water plus BTB along with the snail and plant is blue-green in light and yellow in the dark after three hours.

This is why:
Carbon dioxide in water produces carbonic acid.
BTB is blue-green in liquid which changes to a yellow color in acid and back to blue-green when returned to a neutral pH.
Carbon dioxide plus water yields sugar and oxygen when chlorophyll and sunlight are present.
Animals respire.
Green plants photosynthesize in the light and respire all the time.
Sugar plus oxygen yields carbon dioxide plus water and energy.

Each fact above has something to do with why you noticed the changes you did in your lab. Photosynthesis is important for plants to get their food. This is important for us because we eat plants to get our energy.