Homeostasis Lab Description
The controlling of sugar levels in the body is extremely important and not many people know about its effect. In this lab, the goal was to find out how long it takes our blood sugar levels to reach homeostasis. This was tested in a unique way. Participants drank a can of crush soda and recorded the data. The reason this test was performed was to examine how our blood sugar levels would rise and drop after the consumption of the sugar. In the beginning of this project, our group researched about glucose and insulin and how the body produces it. The bodies of diabetic people and how they can’t produce insulin was researched.
This is our document showing the results we've received throughout this lab.
Above is the Info-graphic we made to show our data in a neat and organized way.
Cheese Lab Description
In this lab, our group experimented with four different curdling agents to see which agent curdled milk the quickest, produced the most amount of cheese, and what the cheese contained. This lab was split into 3 different parts: Make the cheese, change a variable in the process of the first part, and find out which macromolecules are in the components of cheese.
Concepts:
Macro-molecules: A molecule containing a very large number of atoms, such as a protein, nucleic acid, or synthetic polymer. The four main classes being carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids. After making the cheese we checked to see what macro-molecules were present in the cheese corresponding to the agents. The understanding of what macro-molecules are were vital to this project because we needed to know what we were testing the cheese for.
Protein: a macro-molecule; a class of nitrogenous organic compounds that consist of large molecules composed of one or more long chains of amino acids and are an essential part of all living organisms. Proteins were present in the cheese that we made because of the tests we ran to confirm them.
Lipids/fats: Any of a class of organic compounds that are fatty acids or their derivatives and are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. They include many natural oils, waxes, and steroids. Our cheese tested positive for lipids.
Carbohydrates: a macro-molecule that provides energy for the cell; two types- monosaccharides and polysaccharides; monosaccharides give the cell energy while polysaccharides store the energy.
Nucleic Acids: a complex organic substance present in living cells, especially DNA or RNA, whose molecules consist of many nucleotides linked in a long chain. Nucleic acids store and transmit genetic information that you inherited from your parents. Nucleic acids were not present in our test for macro molecules in cheese.
Homeostasis: the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes. Our bodies are always at homeostasis when nothing is happening to the body except for some people, such as diabetic people. we tested to see how long it will take our bodies to reach homeostasis after consuming sugar.
Protein: a macro-molecule; a class of nitrogenous organic compounds that consist of large molecules composed of one or more long chains of amino acids and are an essential part of all living organisms. Proteins were present in the cheese that we made because of the tests we ran to confirm them.
Lipids/fats: Any of a class of organic compounds that are fatty acids or their derivatives and are insoluble in water but soluble in organic solvents. They include many natural oils, waxes, and steroids. Our cheese tested positive for lipids.
Carbohydrates: a macro-molecule that provides energy for the cell; two types- monosaccharides and polysaccharides; monosaccharides give the cell energy while polysaccharides store the energy.
Nucleic Acids: a complex organic substance present in living cells, especially DNA or RNA, whose molecules consist of many nucleotides linked in a long chain. Nucleic acids store and transmit genetic information that you inherited from your parents. Nucleic acids were not present in our test for macro molecules in cheese.
Homeostasis: the tendency toward a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially as maintained by physiological processes. Our bodies are always at homeostasis when nothing is happening to the body except for some people, such as diabetic people. we tested to see how long it will take our bodies to reach homeostasis after consuming sugar.
Reflection:
Overall these two projects went really well for me and my group. Everyone played a role that benefited the team and helped us reach our end goal. It was interesting to see how the human body works in terms of all functions, especially when it came to measuring blood sugar levels. Our group collaboration was definitely one of our stronger points for both projects. We each took a task in the project and sought it out to the end. Each person did their part well and that definitely contributed to our success. I think something that could have gone better would be our work ethic. Since we were all good friends we struggled with getting the plan done and that did draw us back a little bit. In these projects I learned that when I take initiative and step up and be a leader to the group, we end up getting good results. For these two labs, I picked up the slack and helped my group out and let us to success. I also learned that I love to organize data. Using the information that we got, it was really fun to organize the date of when received into different categories. Definitely something I need to improve on is getting my team members engaged in the process. At some times I would be doing most of the work because they were doing their own thing. If told them to pick up the slack, then our work could have been completed easier. another thing I can improve on could be my empathy. I didn't show a lot of compassion towards my group since I was so focused on getting the project done. I need to find a way to incorporate fun and work so I can still enjoy the project. Although we did this project successfully, we still had a few difficulties along the way. A pit we had during or cheese lab was when we accidentally spilled our vile full of milk and FPC. This prompted us to restart the entire process of warming it in our armpits and it set us back a little. Another pic we had during our change lab was when two of our group mates were absent for a few days. This meant that me and my partner had to do double the work since we were working for two other people as well. Overall the cheese lab was kind of a struggle for us, however our homeostasis lab went splendidly well. A peak that we had in our homeostasis lab was when our group worked great together. We always knew where we were lacking and always fixed it when we were struggling. We finished our project early since we were so eager to do it (our project was to consume sugar and record the time it takes for our bodies to reach homeostasis). My goal for the next project is to establish a good connection with my teammates so we have good chemistry and can complete the project to its best form.