The Ocean Floor

The one of the 20 big questions in science that interests me the most is "What's at the bottom of the ocean?". We have always lived on Earth, and even have been outside of our planet, but we still haven't explored a big part of our planet. 71 percent of our planet is covered in oceans, but we have only explored most of the land on our planet. The ocean is like a whole new universe, with all kinds of creatures. Many new types of creatures and animals are still being discovered in the ocean. The bottom of the ocean is pitch dark, and has very high water pressure, and creatures can still survive there. We have discovered only 5 percent of the ocean, and scientists believe that there could be a cure to Alzheimer's disease at the bottom of the ocean.

20 Questions:
How far will technology go?
How long will humans live for?
Is there anything we can build to explore the sun?
How do ants elect their queen?
Where did the moon come from?
How can ants smell sugar?
How does mold form?
What is inside a black hole?
How conscious are animals?
How did humans learn how to make fire.
What will humans evolve to look like in the future?
What animals are out there that we haven't discovered?
How are cells made?
How did the first organism form?
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Why do some insects feed off of blood?
Is there an exact copy of you somewhere?
How do dolphins communicate?
How many people do you talk to in your life?
How do spiders know where to spin their web?

Identifying Questions and Hypotheses

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO, has detected signatures of hydrated minerals on today's Mars. The question was to figure out if Mars had water or not, and scientists have suspected that there was water on Mars, because of Mars probes finding hints of water. But now, the MRO has discovered dark streaks on slopes, which indicates a seasonal flow of water. The streaks were found on slopes, like Hale Crater. During the warmer seasons, the steaks would darken and seem to flow, and would disappear during colder seasons. Scientists decided that if the streaks got darker during warmer seasons, which indicates it became liquid, and cooler in the colder seasons, which indicates it became frozen, then there is water on Mars.


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Unit 2 Reflection

In unit 2, I learned about atoms, and the other tiny molecules that make up the universe. It talked about how atoms make up things in our body, from a molecule to a protein and lipid. It talked about how enzymes speed up the process of cells, and how they can denature when the pH or temperature is not optimal. It talked about different types of carbohydrates, monosaccharides, polysaccharides, and disaccharides, and how the number of rings can determine the effectiveness of the sugar. It also also talked about the four big macromolecules, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. I understood the carbohydrates and the four types of sugar well, but didn’t understand the four structures of protein structure.  From this unit, I’ve learned more about what to eat if I want lasting energy, and the reason why milk spoils. I’ve also learned about the different types of sugar and how each one powers the body differently.I want to learn more about how molecules communicate with each other.

Cheese Lab

In this lab, we asked the question of what the optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese. My hypothesis was that if renin comes from a calf's stomach, then the optimal conditions to curdle milk would be warm and acidic. We found that curdling agents in a hot and acidic environment would make milk curl faster. We found out that both renin and chymosin in a hot and acidic environment curled within five minutes. This shows that an acidic and hot environment will speed up curdling. I would recommend using chymosin in two pH at a hot temperature to curl as fast as possible.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the measurement of the acid, base, curdling agent, and the milk. Putting too much curdling agent and acid could have decreased the time it took to curdle the milk. Putting too much base or milk could have slowed down the time to curdle. This could have been fixed by using a small graduated cylinder to measure. There also could have been differences in the time that we took the test tube out to check for curdling. Some were taken out for longer amounts of time, and others shorter. This could have been fixed if we put a set amount of time, like fifteen seconds, to inspect the test tube.

This lab was done to demonstrate how different pH and temperatures affect the different types of enzymes. From this lab, I learned how enzymes react to different environments, which helps me understand more of how enzymes work. In class, I’ve learned about how enzymes denature when the pH and temperature aren’t optimal, and this lab showed that. Based on my experience from this lab, I understand how milk spoils, and what I can do to prevent it from spoiling.

	Time to Curdle (minutes)
Curdling Agent:	Chymosin	Rennin	Buttermilk	Milk (control)
Acid	5	5	5
Base	20
pH Control	15	10
Cold
Hot	5	5
Temp Control	10	10

Sweetness Lab

Sweetness Lab

Brandon Yuen

In this lab, we asked the question, “Which carbohydrates taste sweet and which ones don’t?” My hypothesis was that if the one ringed carbohydrates would taste sweeter, then the glucose should also taste sweeter. I thought fructose, sucrose, and maltose would taste sweet, while galactose, lactose, cellulose, and starch wouldn’t taste sweet. We found that glucose, fructose, and galactose tasted the sweetest, while starch and cellulose, the three or more ringed carbohydrates, tasted less sweet. This result was likely caused by the number of rings each carbohydrate has. The monosaccharides tested the sweetest, the disaccharides less sweet, and finally the polysaccharides, which were the least sweet.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data, there could have been errors due to the difference of taste of different people. Some people could be used to more sugar, while others are used to less. That would make the degree of sweetness become higher or lower. Making groups of people who have or hadn’t eaten many sugary things in a while would help. People might also have just eaten something sweet or not unsweet, mixing up the results too. Eating something bland, like bread, before testing the sweetness of the carbohydrates would help get more accurate results. The degree of sweetness could also have been affected by the portion of the carbohydrate a person got. Giving each person exactly half a teaspoon would have made the results more accurate.

This lab was done to demonstrate how rings affect the taste of different carbohydrates. From the lab I learned that one ringed carbohydrates are sweeter than two and three ringed carbohydrates, which helps me understand the concept of carbohydrates more. Based on my experience from this lab, I know that starch would be less sweet than fructose or glucose. Organisms are affected by the types of carbohydrates from the different amount of energy storage of each one. Three-ringed carbohydrates would give more energy than one-ringed carbohydrates.

Characteristics of Life