Author Archives: jiminp2016

Diffusion in Agar Cubes Lab

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  1. In terms of maximizing diffusion, what was the most effective size cube that you tested?
  • The 1cm cube was the most effective because it was completely diffused and the biggest difference in surface area to volume ratio, 6:1. As a smaller cube, it is more efficient.

 

2. Why was that size most effective at maximizing diffusion?  What are the important factors that affect how materials diffuse into cells or tissues?

  • The 1cm size cube was the most effective at maximizing diffusion because it has the biggest surface area to volume ratio. Surface area and volume are the important factors that affect how materials diffuse into cells or tissues.

 

3. If a large surface area is helpful to cells, why do cells not grow to be very large?

  • Even though a large surface area is helpful to cells, the cells do not grow to be very large because the ratio of volume decreases while the volume increases.

 

4. You have three cubes, A, B, and C.  They have surface to volume ratios of 3:1, 5:2, and 4:1 respectively.  Which of these cubes is going to be the most effective at maximizing diffusion, how do you know this?

  • The 4:1 cube is going to be the most effective at maximizing diffusion because it has the biggest difference in ratio, similarly to the 1 cm cube in my group’s lab. As I compare the numbers of the ratio that I got during our lab, I can figure out which cube will have the highest diffusion ratio because the ratio is surface area:volume.

 

5. How does your body adapt surface area-to-volume ratios to help exchange gases?

  • The surface area to volume ratio of a cell must be in a way such that the cell membrane has enough surface are to serve the organelles which includes exchange of gases. The cells grow while its surface area to volume ratio decreases, reducing the rates of gas exchanging.

 

6. Why can’t certain cells, like bacteria, get to be the size of a small fish?

  • It has a high ratio of SA:V because it is very small unicellular organism. It has too much volume, so it can not be the size of a small fish. Also, there is a limitation for the cells to get nutrients.

 

7. What are the advantages of large organisms being multicellular?

The size of organisms is not limited so, they can grow much bigger. Also, they can live longer than unicellular organisms. Additionally, they have organized cells into tissues to do their special jobs, so they can work more efficiently.

 

 

Protein Synthesis

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RNA Transcription Model

  1. How is mRNA different than DNA?
  2. Describe the process of transcription.
  3. How did today’s activity do a good job of modelling the process of RNA transcription? In what ways was our model inaccurate?
  • RNA is a polynucleotide like DNA, but they are different in 3 ways with DNA. They are single stranded and short and contains sugar ribose. Also, they use base Uracil instead of Thymine. Also, DNA can be over 85 million base pairs long, but mRNA is usually 1000. Transcription is the process by which the information on 1 DNA gene is copied onto a strand of mRNA. Basically, one gene on DNA translate into mRNA. A specific part of DNA unwinds, exposing one gene. Along 1 strand of DNA which is called “sense” strand, complementary RNA bases are brought in. For example, in this part, Uracil bonds with Adenine of DNA. Adjacent RNA nucleotides form sugar phosphate bonds. Once an RNA strand is released from DNA, the DNA molecule rewinds, and returns to its normal form which is double helix. This activity did a good job of showing general structure of the molecules involved in the process, but it did not show everything exactly like a real. It actually hard to show the message to DNA.

 

Translation Paper Model

  1. Describe the process of translation: initiation, elongation, and termination.
  • Initiation: mRNA bonds to the small ribosome subunit, then the 2 ribosome subunits bind together. The mRNA, with its start codon(AUG) attaches to the “R” site of the ribosome. The AUG codon always initiates translation and codes for the amino acid methionine.
  • Elongation: More amino acids are added and connected together to form a polypeptide, as specified by the mRNA sequence.  Ribosome holds mRNA and allows complementary tRNA to attach to binding sites. tRNA has complementary 3 letter code called “anticodon” and each of the 64 possible codons is specific to one of the 20 amino acids. tRNA binds to “P” site, another tRNA binds to “A” site and empty tRNA leaves ribosome.
  • Termination: The process above repeats until a special codon, called a stop codon, is reached. The 3 stop codes are UAA, UAG, and UGA. In this process, there is no new amino acid is added to the chain, so the ribosome dissociates into its 2 subunits and polypeptide is released.

2.  How did today’s activity do a good job of modelling the process of translation? In what ways was our model inaccurate?

  • It was accurate because it showed how the ribosomes move and the process of translation. It helped to better understand the process of elongation. However, it was inaccurate beacause it was hard to see exactly same with real. It was hard to show the “stop” sign, so we just had to seperate all of them to show the “stop” in the photo.

DNA

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DNA Model

 

  1. Explain the structure of DNA – use the terms nucleotides, antiparallel strands, and complementary base pairing.
  2. How does this activity help model the structure of DNA? What changes could we make to improve the accuracy of this model? Be detailed and constructive.

–           DNA is made of nucleotides and the nucleotides have sugars(deoxyribose), phosphate groups, and nitrogen bases. It is the shape of double helix. The 2 strands in DNA are described as antiparallel and complementary base pairing. Antiparallel literally means the strands are read in “opposite” direction. Also, complementary base pairing is the process that the base always pairs with specific partner; Adenine always pairs with Thymine and Cytosine always pairs with Guanine. This activity was helpful to me to understand the structure of DNA by allowing my group to create a code using DNA language ourselves. We used blue and white pipe cleaners, and coloured beads to represent phosphate groups, hydrogen bonds, sugars, and nitrogen bases. If we reduce the length of the white pipe cleaner, it would be looked more accurate because in reality, nothing is separated between the nitrogen bases and the backbone. Actually, my fingers hurt because of the wires, but it helped me to understand and demonstrate the DNA structure.

 

DNA Replication Model

  1. When does DNA replication occur?
  2. Name and describe the 3 steps involved in DNA replication. Why does the process occur differently on the “leading” and “lagging” strands.
  3. The model today wasn’t a great fit for the process we were exploring. What did you do to model the complimentary base pairingand joining of adjacent nucleotidessteps of DNA replication. In what ways was this activity well suited to showing this process? In what ways was it inaccurate?
  • DNA replication occurs period of cell division and there are 3 stages involved in DNA replication. The 3 stages are Unwinding, Complementary base pairing, and Joining. Firstly, in “Unwinding” step, the two strands that make up DNA unwind and unzip. The DNA double helix unwinds and the two strands of DNA separate. Next step is “Complementary base pairing” and in this step, new nucleotides move in to pair up and with bases of each strand of DNA. Lastly, in “Joining” part, the adjacent nucleotides join to form new strands. This step is carried out by an enzyme called DNA polymerase. A leading strand is synthesized in the 5’ to 3’ direction while a lagging strand is synthesized in the 3’ to 5’ direction. The leading strand is synthesized continuously, but the lagging strand is synthesized in fragments. Also, DNA ligase glues fragments. I had to attach white pipe cleaners which represent the nucleotides. For the leading strand, it should be attached from the top down while the lagging strand should be attached from the bottom up. Also, it was inaccurate because the model could not exactly replicate the bonds between the backbone and the nitrogen bases. However, visually, it was almost same with real DNA, so this activity well suited. Because it showed the same sequence DNA which was split to form same sequence of daughter DNA.

 

 

 

 

Core Competencies & Reflection – video essay

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Reflection

This video is about my opinion about the use of social media. It tells why social media is useful to us. It allows us to get in touch with people across the world. Remember long time ago, we used to call family or friends using a phone card, which is expensive and not easy to operate. With the use of social media, we can talk instantly using our mobile phone so long as the phone is connected to the web. Also, you can gain useful information from social media, if we use it wisely and properly. There are great teachers on Youtube. you can get free quality lessons on Youtube such as math, science, social, music, and many others. You can learn everything you want. A picture is worth a thousand words! We can watch news as well. For those who have negative impression on social media, please reconsider the use of social media and use it for your own good. As the number of users who use social media is increasing, it is getting more important to the public. People have different perspectives and thoughts, so the way they think about social media is different as well. Some people think social media is harmful to people, but some people don’t. Some people who think social media is harm more than good is because they are not utilizing it properly. They don’t understand what benefits of social media will bring to them. They have to change their perspective before they use social media. With negative thoughts, they wouldn’t gasp fruitful benefit by the use of social media. However, people with positive thoughts on the use of social media think that it is always useful to them. Therefore, I hope people to change their view about social media first.

What can we do with social media?

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Script

Hi everyone, this is Hayley. What we can do with social media? Today I am going to talk about why social media does good more than harm. These days, lots of people have negative perspectives and thoughts about social media, but I am going to change the way they think today. As you guys know, most people in the world are using social media and the number of users who use social media is increasing every year. We are absorbed into social media unconsciously before we are aware of it. We have easy access to social media. People are always being together with social media. It is used in various ways. For example, for immigrants or international students like me, my family and I use social media to call across the world. If we do not use social media, we have to pay a number of dollars to call and text each other. However, because of the social media, we are free to call each other. Even though, we can not facing each other, we can use a video call function which is included in social media. Also, the app, youtube gives us so much information. “A picture tells a thousand words”. There is tons of information on youtube. You can find someone is eating. Also, you can learn anything you want such as languages, musical instruments, wood working, machining and so on. So, social media has more advantages than disadvantages. So sign up on youtube and enjoy it.

Reflection

This video is about my opinion about the use of social media. It tells why social media is useful to us. It allows us to get in touch with people across the world. Remember long time ago, we used to call family or friends using a phone card, which is expensive and not easy to operate. With the use of social media, we can talk instantly using our mobile phone so long as the phone is connected to the web. Also, you can gain useful information from social media, if we use it wisely and properly. There are great teachers on Youtube. you can get free quality lessons on Youtube such as math, science, social, music, and many others. You can learn everything you want. A picture is worth a thousand words! We can watch news as well. For those who have negative impression on social media, please reconsider the use of social media and use it for your own good. As the number of users who use social media is increasing, it is getting more important to the public. People have different perspectives and thoughts, so the way they think about social media is different as well. Some people think social media is harmful to people, but some people don’t. Some people who think social media is harm more than good is because they are not utilizing it properly. They don’t understand what benefits of social media will bring to them. They have to change their perspective before they use social media. With negative thoughts, they wouldn’t gasp fruitful benefit by the use of social media. However, people with positive thoughts on the use of social media think that it is always useful to them. Therefore, I hope people to change their view about social media first.

Citation

Lafrance, Adrienne. (Nov 1,2017). Social Media in 1857. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/11/wht-twitter-was-like-the-day-the-atlantic-launched/544727/

 

Higgins, Jenny. (2008). 19th Century Communications and Transportation from:

https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/19th-communications-transportations.php

 

Blogin. (Oct 18, 2018). Singapore People’s Voice – Kick Them OUT from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQG5B5BbwVo

 

 

Iron chef reflection

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I’ve really enjoyed the “Iron Chef” activity. It was my first time cooking within such short amount of time given. Before I started this activity, I was so excited. I did not know the ingredients and we had to cook food in a hassle. By doing some research in the internet, my group have decided a menu. I was very satisfied with our food. I thought we were out of time but managed to bake a decent pie. We were all proud and pleased with our result. Without my group members’ effort and teamwork, we could not have accomplished what we did. Communication was very crucial during the fast paced kitchen environment, but we’ve managed it. It was challenging and stressful to some extent, but the result left us with pride and a delicious pie. I would definitely do this kind of activity again. It would take us to a whole new level of cooking and it would also offer us love and attraction toward culinary arts.