4 Labs, 1 Blog

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With four different labs in one week, we were able to learn how different states of matter affect the object. In the first lab, we observed a birthday candle which helped me to learn how to record physical and the chemical properties of an object. Additionally, I learned about physical and chemical changes of an object as well as melting and combustion. I could use these skills in the future if I needed to record the reaction of an object when burned. The second lab taught me how a candle can burn out when exposed to carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide is exposed to the oxygen which keeps the candle lit, the flame dies down because the carbon dioxide took away the oxygen. The third lab teaches physical and chemical changes of a marshmallow and the different phases of matter it can be in. Finally, the fourth lab taught observing the different changes of matter an object can be in with a sugar cube.

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How I can use these techniques in the future is in cooking. Sometimes when you cook you have to notice the different chemical changes in an ingredient. Also, moms with children who are picky eaters need to know the physical properties of some foods to make your dish appealing to kids who don't like eating much.

How to Seperate a Heterogeneous Mixture

1. Use spoon to scoop out plastic bug. Place plastic bug on plastic tray.

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2. Use fingers to pick up toothpicks. Place toothpicks on plastic tray.
3. Use spoon to pick up beans. Place beans in flask.
4. Line filter paper over funnel. Place funnel into beaker.
5. Pour water mixture into the funnel. Let water filter from sand.
6. Place sand on table. Spread sand carefully over table.
7. Wave magnet over sand to collect iron filings.
8. Place funnel onto heated hot plate. Let water evaporate to expose salt.

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Items in Heterogeneous Mixture:
-Plastic bug
-Toothpicks
-Beans
-Water
-Sand
-Iron filings
-Salt


This salad is an example of a heterogeneous mixture

Frog Blog

Picture from Superiortutoring.net, by Randy Glasbergen

Picture from Neatoshop.com, designed by Matthew Lawson

In class, we dissected a frog that smelled really bad. It has similar organs and a similar digestive system, too, helping the class learn how our digestive system works. The digestive system is the system that turns food molecules into nutrients that our body can use for nutrients. The frog had a lot of *cough* liquid inside and THREE livers! I believe a human has one liver, because THREE is a lot! It also had an esophagus(if you pry the frog's mouth open, you can stick your finger down the esophagus), a gallbladder, heart, stomach, fat bodies, and many more organs that humans have, too. 

The frog my lab group had was a female, which had black eggs inside scattered everywhere that looked like caviar with a female reproductive system. Our frog had a pair of oviducts, which are long tubes that are sometimes mistaken for the small intestine. The oviducts transports the eggs from the ovaries to the cloaca, the opening of the frog. We had to remove the fat bodies and eggs to see each organ clearly. I could tell that the frog was ready for hibernation because it had a lot of fat bodies that looked like spaghetti.

Things I enjoyed about this lab is that we were able to understand a little better about the different organs in our body. We also got to take the frog's eyeball out and watch it bounce. What I didn't like about the lab is that the class room smelled really bad and the frog's "liquids". Overall, this experience would definitely be a highlight for eighth grade.

When The Stomach Churns Lab: Part 2

Today in class, we finished the lab we did yesterday that models how the stomach digestive juices work. The egg whites in each test tube did change in appearence, but the results for the blue papers that change to pink when acid is in its presence were the same as day 1. We learned that the hydrochloric acid and pepsin together helps in the process of digestion. However, the digestion process is slow. The hydrochloric acid is used to help dissole the broken food particles. The reason the food particles are broken down is because the pepsin makes the protiens into smaller pieces. Without pepsin, hydrochloric acid won't work properlly and vise versa.

As the Stomach Churns Lab Report: Part I

Today in class, we filled four different, labeled test tubes with egg whites to see how different amounts of substances, in this case, enzyme pepsin (meat tenderizer), hydrochloric acid, and water, react together. The first tube contained 10mL of meat tenderizer with nothing occurring immediately. Test tube "B" had 5mL of pepsin and 5mL of water. The liquid turned foggy making the egg whites difficult to see. Hydrochloric acid was added to the egg whites in test tube "C". There was no immediate reaction. The fourth tube contained 5mL of pepsin and 5mL of hydrochloric acid; the egg whites started breaking down and the solution became bubbly. We were then assigned to test the solutions with blue litmus paper which turns pink when acid is in its presence. Test tubes A and B stayed the same, possibly because it didn't have hydrochloric acid in the solution. Test tubes C and D, however, turned pink. My guess is that hydrochloric acid causes the litmus paper to turn pink. I await for the results tomorrow.

Chicken Wing Dissection

In this picture, the skin is being removed so the muscles and bone can be seen.

 

 

Today in class, we were shown the dissection of chicken. The purpose of this lab is to display how our own skeleton works and to show the different tissues we have in our body. The teacher showed the how when the muscle called the flexor is pulled, the extensor, another muscle, can be pushed so the flexor relaxes when the extensor contracts. We were also shown bone marrow and explained the cells in the bone, which is a connective tissue. There were also other parts of the chicken wing we saw like cartilage and ligaments which connect bones to other bones at joints. We saw fat which keeps the animal warm but we couldn't find the nerve the the chicken wing. Coincidentally, we had some chicken for lunch that day, too.

Lab 10/12/11

Today in class, we did the Diffusion Lab, a lab activity observing how the cell plasma membrane in a cell works. We first make a corn starch mixture with a teaspoon of corn starch and a half a cup of water in a plastic baggie. Then, iodine was added to a beaker with water and the baggie was submerged into the mixture. What was suppose to happen didn't: iodine entering the baggie and tinting the corn starch purple. The starch turned a slight shade of purple on the bottom when more iodine was added, but overall, the lab didn't work as expected.