Lab Summary Report

Brian Herrmann
AP Biology 7th Period

Introduction:
Biology is the study of living things, how they work, and their reactions to other organisms and their non-living environment. But, to know how organisms work and survive, you have to look at their parts. The basis of the living organism, the smallest living part of the organism, its building block, is the cell. The basic cell may not seem like much, but make up everything in that organism. Going one step further into the study of the organism is to know the parts of the cell, and most importantly its membrane. The cell membrane is the wall between the cell and its environment. It is its fortress and its gate. It allows for the absorption of what is good and nourishing and permits the rejection of harmful materials. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the topic of membranes and how they react in the cell, we performed a series of labs. These labs showed us why cells are microscopic, how and why they gain and lose size and color, and how materials are transported through the membrane, with and without the help of the cell. Lab 1: Diffusion and Osmosis Kinetic Energy of Molecules Lab 2: Diffusion of a Solid in a Solid Lab 3: Semi-Permeable Membrane (Artificial) Lab 4: Semi Permeable Membrane Purple Onion Cells (Biological) Lab 5: Ferds Potato Dilemma Lab 6: What Are Amoebas Not the Size of Lake Erie Lab 7: Active Transport

Lab 1: Diffusion and Osmosis Kinetic Energy of Molecules

Purpose, Observations and Conclusion
The purpose of this lab was to confirm the idea that molecules are in a constant state of motion. To test for this, we observed carmine powder, a red powdery dye, under a microscope while mixed with water. If molecules are in a constant state of motion, and carmine particles are mixes with water under a cover slip, then the dyes would disseminate and one would be able to see the random motion of the individual particles. Under the microscope, one was able to see the movement of the molecules as they spread around under the cover slip. This action took place because everything is in a constant state of random motion.

Lab 2: Diffusion of a Solid in a Solid

Purpose
The purpose of this activity was to determine if the molecules that make up a solid are able to diffuse in another solid. To study this, we placed three drops of a gel dye into a gel AGAR substance and watched the diffusion take place. If molecules are in constant motion, and two soluble solids are brought together, then the solids will diffuse together.

Observations
We observed the dyes spreading out from their initial drop zone. They formed rings of dye that eventually began to touch each other. In time, the colors began to mesh together and the entire dish became one murky color.

Conclusion
In this lab, the three drops of gel dye in the Petri dish of AGAR at first stayed in the place they were dropped. After a few minutes, the solid dyes began to diffuse into the AGAR. In an hour, the dyes were completely diffused in the Petri dish, with all of the colors meshing together. This occurred because all molecules are in constant motion. This allowed the dyes to move across the concentration gradient to an area in the AGAR where there was a low concentration of dye. This experiment followed the expected "molecules will travel from high concentration to low concentration. This was able to happen because the

Lab 3: Semi Permeable Membrane

Purpose
The purpose of this activity is to discover whether or not liquid substances are able to diffuse between artificial membranes. To perform this, we used a tube of a semi permeable membrane and created a bag, then filled it with a glucose and starch solution. We then pu that bag in a beaker filled with an iodine solution. We then looked to see if there were any changes of any sort to indicate a transfer across the membrane. If only certain smaller molecules are able to pass through a semi permeable membrane, and I create two solutions with solutes of differing molecular size while having them separated only by a membrane, then the smaller molecules will travel across the membrane due to the random movement of molecules.

Results
Original Contents Bag Beaker Control Glucose and Starch H2O and Iodine H2O Original Color Clear Pale yellow Clear Final Color Tint of blue Clear Clear Benedicts Color Mustard green Rust Clear Blue

There was a visible color change in the solutions after sitting overnight and when testing for simple carbohydrates. The color changes in the Bag and the Beaker show a presence of glucose.

Conclusion
In this activity, after sitting overnight, there was a visible difference in color between the two solutions. The beaker was initially a yellow color and became clear. The glucose solution in the membrane was initially clear, but then became a tinted blue color. This gave us the indication that something moved across the membrane, but the color change alone was inconclusive as to what specifically moved across the membrane. To determine the presence of the glucose solution, we used Benedicts solution. We tested samples from the beaker and the bag and both turned out positive. This correlates with the final color as the iodine solution color was not as strong and the bag solution had a tinted blue color instead of being clear. The starch and glucose solution diffused into equilibrium overnight; the glucose left the membrane and the starch stayed in, but the iodine bonded with the starch and was trapped in the bag as the beaker solution became clearer.

Lab 4: Observing Osmosis in Purple Onion Cells

Purpose
We performed this lab to determine and observe how osmosis works through living organic matter via membranes. This lab had us slice up an onion and peel off its skin. Once the purple skin was on a slide and under a microscope, a series of higher concentrated solutions of saltwater were washed over it. If water will leave its hypotonic environment in a cell to reach equilibrium with a hypertonic environment through osmosis, and we rinse onion cells with varying degrees of hypertonic solution, then water of the cell stored in the vacuole should leave the cell, resulting in a smaller vacuole.

Results
After each rinse of a higher hypertonic salt solution, the purple vacuole got smaller when we looked at it in the cell. It kept shrinking. To make sure this was due to the salt water, we rinsed it with pure water, and the vacuole began to return to its normal size. The cell wall did not change shape, but the vacuole shrunk, resulting in a larger looking cytoplasm. In order from top cluster to bottom, Original, 5% solution, 10% solution, 15% solution, and after 3 H2O washes.

Conclusion
In the activity, the vacuoles in the cell initially dominated the cell size and were full of water. With the addition of salt to the cell in the form of different concentrations of salt water, the vacuole shrunk, indicating water loss. This was most prevalent in the highest 15% concentration solution. The result implies that the addition of salt to the cells made water move out of the vacuole, shrinking it it in the cell. This happened because the salt water was hypertonic and the vacuole hypotonic. The water left the cell to create equilibrium. The only way for water to diffuse to create equilibrium is through osmosis.

Lab 5: Ferds Potato Dilemma

Purpose
This lab was to match Molarity to specific beakers left for us by the puzzler. Using what we knew about osmosis and membrane function, we were left with various unlabeled beakers of glucose solution and we had to determine which beaker belonged to which Molarity. The only way to do this is through what we learned about what water does in the purple onion cell lab. Water would leave the high water environment and would enter the low water environment. Therefore: If we set potato pieces in different concentrations of glucose solution, and water will leave the potato to go to the lower concentration of water in the solution, the potato pieces in the highest glucose solution will have the smallest mass after soaking overnight. This lab explored the terms isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic.

Results
The potato pieces looked rather comfortable resting in their little solution baths.

Mass b/f soaking

0 Mol Soln (H2O) .4 Mol Soln Mystery Soln A Mystery Soln B Mystery Soln C Mystery Soln D 4.12 3.8 3.81 4.21 4.31 4.63

Mass after soaking

4.88 3.41 3.19 3.39 4.81 3.41

Gain or loss
G L L L G L

Difference in mass
.76 -.30 -.62 -.82 .5 -1.22

Quotient in mass
1.18 .897 .83 .8 1.11 .737

Conclusion
In this lab, we used our knowledge of membranes and osmosis to match up the mystery solutions to the beakers A, B, C, and D. It turns out that Beaker A was .6 Mol Solution, Beaker B was .8 Mol Solution, Beaker C was .2 Mol Solution, and Beaker D was the 1 Mol Solution. To determine this, we looked at what happened to the constants of the 0 Mol and the .4 Mol solutions before and after soaking. The 0 Mol solution gained mass as the water saturated the potato, but the .4 Mol solution lost mass as the water left the potato to enter the solution and create equilibrium. Using the knowledge that the higher the Molarity, the lower the mass of the soaked potato and calculating the greatest difference between potato masses, we determined that is the highest Molarity is D because it had the greatest loss. Then came B with the second greatest loss, and then C and so on. All of this was due to the osmosis between hypertonic and hypotonic solutions and the transfer of water between them over the membranes of cells. The ratios of the masses were also used to confirm the conclusions. The lowest ratio meant the greatest loss in weight and the greatest Molarity.

Lab 6: Why Are Amoebas Not the Size of Lake Erie?

Purpose
The purpose of this lab was to figure out why amoebas are not large. We observe that large organisms are made of large cells, but why is it inefficient, evolutionarily speaking, to have really large cells? Should a large cell not be able to gain resources faster than a small one? This lab dealt with surface area and the diffusion of liquid to determine this. If the rate of absorption is determined by the ration of surface area to volume, and we cut cubes of gel of three different sizes, then the one with the largest difference in ratio will absorb liquid the fastest. Large objects have a very large volume compared to their surface area, but the smaller one gets, the larger the surface area is in comparison, so if it really is better to have small cells, this lab will prove so by the speed of the color change in the gel made with phenol red.

Results Cube
A B C

Cube Dimensions
1cmx1cmx1cm 2cmx2cmx2cm 3cmx3cmx3cm

Surface Area
6cm2 24cm2 54cm2

Volume
1cm3 8cm3 27cm3

Ration SA/Vol
6:1 3:1 2:1

The smaller cubes changed color completely at a faster rate than the larger cube. The larger cube had a pink center for a long while whilst the other two became clear.

Conclusion
In this lab, we tested the diffusion rate of molecules and how having smaller cells is beneficial in an evolutionary sense. The smaller cell is able to absorb nutrients and water much more quickly than a larger cell, meaning it can get what it needs to where it needs in a short amount of time. On a smaller scale, a very small cube 1/100 of a cm in length would have a surface area to volume ratio of 600000:1, meaning it would be very fast at letting a solution past its membrane and wholly into the cell. Although the cube 3cm in length had the largest surface area, the ratio is what matters. This lines up with our hypothesis that a smaller cube would be faster at fully absorbing the vinegar in this experiment.

Lab 7: Active Transport

Purpose
This lab was performed to study active transport. We took yeast in a sodium carbonate solution and added neutral red, the filtered it and performed a series of tests to determine if active transport took place. If neutral red is a solute that cannot normally diffuse in a yeast cell, and yeast cells are capable of active transport, then the yeast cells will undergo a color change and no neutral red would filter through the paper.

Results
The yeast and sodium carbonate solution with neutral red filtered to a pale honey-colored liquid, leaving clumps of red yeast particles on the paper. This implies that the yeast absorbed the neutral red and the filtrate is the sodium carbonate. Then we took the yeast mixture and filled three test tubes equally with it. In the first we added sodium hydroxide, in the second, ammonium hydroxide, and the third we boiled. The results were that the first test tube stayed a red color. The second turned a yellowish orange color and the third boiled one turned a bright orange-yellow.

Conclusion
This lab had four major sub experiments in it. What happened in the test tubes are as follows: The first test tube stayed red, meaning that the NaOH was not accepted into the cell. The neutral red would have turned yellow if it did because it would be more basic. It was still acidic, so it stayed red. The second tube had the NH4Oh pass through the membrane, but that was due to diffusion as the neutral red turned yellow, making the solution more basic. The third boiled tube, although it changed color, is also not active transport because active transport requires energy from the cell, not external help. Also, the high heat just broke down the membranes, meaning that active transport is impossible there is no membrane! This leaves us with the first experiment. The neutral red was absorbed into the cell as seen by the leftover red yeast cells. If one looked under a microscope, they would see no red dye in the filter. Since there is not red dye in the filter paper or in the filtrate, it was fully absorbed in the cells. Active transport! The yeast pumped the dye in!

Summary Discussion
This chapter was all about membranes and their importance to the cell. Membranes use two different types of transport to bring things into and out of the cell, either active transport or passive transport. This depends on whether or not the cell uses energy to transport the molecule across the membrane. This transport can happen by osmosis, the transfer of water, or diffusion, the transfer of everything else. To establish that diffusion actually takes place, one wonders how exactly molecules move on their own into and out of the cell without any energy used by the cell. We assumed that this is because all molecules are in a constant state of random motion. This is a nice theory, but how did we test it? Well, we took come carmine powder, sprinkled it in water, put it on a slide, and watched it move all by itself via small, random vibrations. The powder moved from areas high concentration of dye to areas of low concentration of dye. These insentient particles were able to do this without any help. They completely leveled out. What was observed is the proof for what is called a Brownian movement; the tendency of molecules to evenly distribute themselves in a solution. This random movement is the basis of diffusion. This process can be seen in the drops of dye in the solid dye dissolving in the solid gel lab. It can also be seen in the semi permeable membrane lab. We also see in these labs that the surroundings of a cell can affect what goes across the membrane. In the onion cell lab, we saw that the hypertonic solution around the onion cell made the hypertonic vacuole lose its water via osmosis to help create a more isotonic environment. This was proven by the shrinking of the cell vacuoles. The same thing can also be seen in Ferds potato dilemma. The water in the cells of the potato left to join the solution. Since water was moving across the membrane, it was again osmosis. We know that the glucose did not enter the potato and we are sure water left as the mass of the potato shrunk. Therefore nothing could have entered and it is only logical to assume that water left the cell to equalize the solution. What If a molecule was unable to get into a cell by diffusion? What if it had to get from low concentration to high? This can happen as seen in the active transport lab. The red dye was fully absorbed in the yeast cells. This would not happen in regular passive transport the diffusion would only take place until equilibrium is reached. In this experiment, equilibrium is passed up. All of the red dye is in the cell, none in the filter paper, and none in the filtrate. This is undeniable evidence that shows active transport is at work in the cell. One could wonder why cells are not larger than they are. Would it not make more sense for a cell with a larger surface area to work more efficiently? It is not as seen in the cell size lab. The efficiency of diffusion within a cell all depends on its ratio of volume to surface area. Think about it. If a cell has 54cm2 of surface area, it has to spread all of that amongst 27cm3 of volume. If it only has 6cm2 of surface area, then it only has 1cm3 of volume to spread molecules to. For piece of volume to piece of volume, there is more surface area to go around in a smaller cell. The size of cells being what they are, the ratio of surface area to cell volume is exceedingly high, making it very friendly towards diffusion. This is seen in the lab with the smallest cube losing its color much faster in the vinegar solution than the large cube did.