The Structure and Function of the Cell Membrane

            The mosaic fluids that are in the cell membrane include lipids, proteins and carbohydrates. First I'll describe lipids which are sparingly to insoluble tin water. Lipids are also hydrophobic. Lipids are very important and they serve many functions in organisms. Fats, steroids, and phospholipids are also very important to the functioning of membranes in cells.
             Fatty acids are attached to the alcohol glycerol and this is how fats are synthesized. Fatty acids can be one of the two: saturated and unsaturated. These "double bonds" introduce kinks in the carbon chain which has important consequences on the fluid nature of lipid membranes. Unsaturated fat has at least one unsaturated fatty acid while saturated fat has none. Usually any kinds of fat contains a storage for energy. Layers of fat also protect animals by cushioning them,  and adding layers of fat under the skin of animals to provide insulation.
              Phospholipids contain only two fatty acid tails attached to a glycerol head. When phospholipids are in an aqueous solution they will self assemble into micelles or bilayers. These two structures exclude water molecules for the hydrophobic tails while keeping the hydrophilic head in contact with the aqueous solution.
             Steroids are many lipids bunched together to make a molecule with four fused carbon rings. Steroids include many hormones and cholesterol.

Self evaluation-

             When I was reading the article "The Structure and Function of the Cell Membrane" I learned a lot of valuable useful information I can use to study more about the structure. I learned that I learn better when I'm reading an article in-front of me. I thought it was interesting that there are two types of fatty acids: unsaturated and saturated. Fatty acids usually store energy in the body. Learning about the cell membranes is interesting and very good to learn about. 

   

Carbohydrate CMap

Acids and Bases

    You know when ever you take a bite of lemon or a pickle and it tastes sour that, that’s actually the taste of acid? I didn't know this until I learned about them in class and did research.

Acids taste sour, are corrosive to metals, change litmus (a dye extracted from lichens) red, and become less acidic when mixed with bases.

Bases feel slippery, change litmus blue, and become less basic when mixed with acids

As you can see anything that’s sour is most acidic which includes hydrochloric acid, lemons, vinegar, limes, pickles, sauerkraut, normal rainwater, tomatoes and any kind of food that’s sour most likely is an acidic food since it contains acids. Seven on the pH scale is neutral which is only pure water or tears. The items that are most basic are baking soda, soap, ammonia, drain cleaner, oven cleaner, sodium hydroxide, ext.

Acidic Solutions: They are important inorganic acids that dissociates in this manner...

HCI ---> H+ CI-

HCI is called a strong acid. If hydrochloric acid is added to a beaker of water, the number of hydrogen ions (H+) it increases greatly. You can also define acids as being "strong" or "weak". Strong compounds are compounds that completely break up in water. In other words, if we're talking about a strong acid, all of the H+ ions break away from the molecule in water. Strong acids are all reactive, but some "weak" acids can also be extremely reactive.

I learned that acids are in food. When ever I heard the word acid I always thought about the acid that burns your skin. Yes it is a very strong acid, but we’re talking about the acid in foods. There is a lot of foods that I eat that contains acid. I eat a lot of lemons and vinegar also pickles which contain a lot of acid in them. I learned that acids aren't good for you teeth because it makes your enamel soft. You shouldn't brush your teeth right after eating or drinking soda that contains acid because it ruins your teeth.

Basic Solutions: They are substances that either take up hydrogen ions (H+) or release hydroxide ions (OH-). They are important organic base that dissociates in this manner...

NaOH ---> Na+ + OH-

Sodium hydroxide is called a strong base. If sodium hydroxide is added to a beaker of water, the number of hydroxide ions increases. A base is a compound that has a hydroxide ion connected to some other ion. Because the hydroxide ion is negatively charged, the opposite ion is a positively charged ion. One of the most well known bases is sodium hydroxide. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also known as lye and caustic soda, is a caustic metallic base. It is used in many industries, mostly as a strong chemical base in the manufacture of pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps and detergents and as a drain cleaner.

I learned that bases aren’t usually in food mostly products that you use to clean items around the house. Although the food that does contain bases is egg whites, and baking soda. Bases are in a lot of cleaning items like soaps detergents and drain cleaner. Bases are substances that take up hydrogen ions or release hydroxide ions. Bases can be harmful if they are in house hold cleaners so always read the warnings if you have them around your house and have kids

'Dead simple' way to see atomic structure

                          The scientist discovered how to pin down the moving molecules under room temperature conditions by accident. They were quite excited to discover the new technique. This new discovery reminds me of how Benjamin Franklin discovers electricity. The scientist Heath and Colleagues thought that anomalies might be water molecules trapped under the grapheme. They soon came to discover that water molecules are everywhere. The scientist then wanted to discover the "shrink wrap" at different humidity levels. They noticed that the structures became more prevalent at higher humidity levels and then discovered that they disappeared under completely dry conditions. Heath said "The grapheme perfectly templates the weakly absorbed water molecules on the surface, and holds them in place, for up to a couple of months at least. They took on how to explain the islands of ice. The scientist discovered that the first layer of water on mica is actually two water molecules thick. This water layer also has the structure of ice. There is many new things we sill are learning about water you just have to keep your eyes open. Listen to the news and even googled these subjects about water molecules because you never know when a scientist will discover something new that may help you understand the atomic.

Water Properties

When my group and I experimented with the properties of water with the lab part B (wax paper) we learned and discovered something interesting. We discovered the drop of water didn't cut in half with a toothpick. It simply just slides across the paper where ever you move the toothpick. Why does this happen you may ask?...

--What is happening? Water is not attracted to wax paper (there is no adhesion between the drop and the wax paper). Each molecule in the water drop is attracted to the other water molecules in the drop. This causes the water to pull itself into a shape with the smallest amount of surface area, a sphere. All the water molecules on the surface of the sphere are 'holding' each other together or creating surface tension.

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We then moved on to the next project or experiment with part A (pennies). At first though it was crazy, like could multiple drops of water stay on a penny? I soon came to discover that YES its very possible even though we didn't get many drops of water we got quite a bit. These are the results we had;

Me: 38 drops

Taylor: 35 drops

James: 30

So now I wonder how can a little penny hold so many drops of water ?! Thats when I decided to find out how science or water properties make this happen...

 

--The reason the water stays on the penny is due to surface tension. The molecules at the surface do not have other like molecules on all sides of them and consequently they cohere more strongly to those directly associated with them on the surface. Surface tension is like a flim that holds the water molecules together.

adhesion: The attractive force between molecules in one phase and different molecules in another phase.

 

Why does ice float?

--Ice simple floats because it is less dense then water. 

 

 

Important key words to know;

*cohesion: The attractive force between similar molecules in the same phase.
*hydrogen bond: A weak to moderate attractive force between a hydrogen atom bonded to oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine, and an oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine atom on another molecule.
*hydrophilic: Water-loving; a hydrophilic substance readily dissolves water.
*hydrophobic: Water fearing; a hydrophobic substance does not dissolve in water.
*polar covalent bond: Having an uneven distribution of electron density.
*solvent: A liquid which dissolves another substance without any change in its chemical composition.
*specific heat: The amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a 1-gram sample of a substance by 1 degree Celsius.
*surface tension: The energy needed to increase the surface area of a liquid by a given amount.
*density: The ratio of a substance's mass to its volume.
*electronegativity: The tendency of an atom in a bond to attract shared bonding electrons.

What's Placebo?

    So what exactly is Placebo? Placebo is a sugar pill that’s it, your probably wondering what this has to do with anything. Yea me too. After doing the study research with the placebo website I discovered the reason for the sugar pill. Well they select a number of patients with some type of disease and give them medicine to cure it. About half and half of the patients get the actual drug while the other half gets a sugar pill. The reason for the sugar pill is so they can receive the data they need. The patients don't know if they are getting the real drug or the sugar pill. The doctors that give them the pill also don't know if they are giving their patient the placebo pill or actual pill. Therefore the patients can't decide what the outcome of the data the people will receive on the drug. They reason why they don't know nor do the doctors is because they can't decide the outcome. They would find out if the pill did actually work on the patient if they actually did receive the real pill not placebo pill. I think this is a good idea because then they know if the results on drug are real.

           When placebo was first introduced to me in Ludwig's class I didn't have any idea what it was going to be about. At first I thought maybe just about a chemical in the body I wasn't very close... was I? I learned a lot about placebo just by doing that project on the internet. It’s interesting how much different each experiment is on each kind of disorders. Learning that placebo was only a pill that was made of sugar was interesting. I thought how this could really have to be important with anything that deals with Science. Then I discovered it was very important to science and that it did help a lot, just a simple sugar pill. It's a smart idea to not let the patient or doctor know what pill it is; the real dug or sugar pill.