Identifying Questions and Hypotheses

I found a experiment called dehydrating a potato like in McDonalds. The link of the experiment is       http://www.sciencefairadventure.com/ProjectDetail.aspx?ProjectID=230.  The question about the experiment is how to dehydrate a potato? If potato is dehydrated then it will be dry. I know potato have skin there is moisture inside the potato cells. I know that potatoes are a tubular plant. They have starch.  Alot of carbohydrates in potatoes.  In McDonalds they use dehydrated potatoes to make french fries.

Unit 2 Reflection

Its about the different types of saccrides and the miniature of biology the new vocab words like poly and mono and di and macro. The themes were miniature biology and Macromolecules. The essential understanding is different enzymes and how they produce. I also learned about 3 different kinds of bonds and elements. I also learned about the Periodic table and how it is used. My strengths are my interest in water and how great it is to make solutions. Example: salt and pepper; sugar and sand; earth's atmosphere; Kool-aid.The interesting part of the water is solute and solvent. My weaknesses is not my interest are lipids because it is about fats and oils, waxes.

Cheese Lab

                                                   Cheese Lab

Curdling Agent	chymosin	rennin	buttermilk	milk(control)
Acid	5	5
Base
Hot	5	10
Cold
pH control	15	15
temp. control	15	10

In this lab we asked the question about what are optimal conditions and curdling agents for making cheese. I found out that an environment that is acidic warm/hot is optimal environment for yielding cheese curds. The evidence is in acidic environment it took 5 mins for cheese curds to form. In order for cheese makers to produce cheese at optimal production they control the temperature and the acid added to the different kinds of milk. Cheese production uses many scientific principles to affect flavor production and texture of the cheese.

While our hypothesis was supported by our data there could have been errors due to the temperature to be incorrect or adding too much or too little enzyme. Due to these errors, in future experiments I would recommend to keep the test tubes under the blow dryer  instead of the armpit. I would also recommend different types of milk.

I recommend that the optimal condition of making cheese is huge in industry. Cheese making is good and great example of biotechnology has improved an industrial process. This lab was done to demonstrate to make cheese faster and also this helps me understand the concept of using a base ,an acid and a control. Based on my experience from this lab I could use this information in making other milk products like butter, and sour cream.

Sweetness Lab

1. In this lab, we tasted different forms of carbohydrates and  I found that monosaccharides -glucose and fructose were the sweetest and I rated them 150 to 200.  Disaccharides - Sucrose, Lactose, and Maltose were not especially sweet. The polysaccharides - Starch and cellulose were not sweet at all, in fact, they were tasteless.  I noticed that sweeter carbohydrates had granular texture and less sweet ones were powdery.

2. Polysaccharides due to their structure play energy storage and structural roles in living organisms.
Monomers in starch function as energy storage units and  in cellulose as strong protective fibers.

3. I think the rating could differ for all testers  because our ability to taste things and our response is influenced by many things including our individual experiences.

4. We taste sweetness due to nerves in the taste buds. the taste system includes special receptor cells in the taste buds on the tongue and throat and nerve cells and their extension called axons that form pathways to the brain. Once the taste signals reach certain areas of the brain these centers detect and interpret the flavor messages.

Carbohydrate	Type of      Carbohydrate	Degrees of Sweetness	Color	Texture	Other Observations/ Connection to food
Glucose	mono	150	clear white	granular	nutrient for sick people
Fructose	mono	200	clear white	granular	fruit sugar used in drinks
Galactose	mono	75	clear white	powdery	found in dairy products
Maltose	di	50	tan	powdery	after taste and not sweet
Lactose	di	25	white	powdery	also found in dairy products
Starch	poly	0	white	powdery	tasteless and no taste
Cellulose	poly	0	white	powdery	no taste; bland

Pranay's Biology Collage