Science 10
Mendelian Genetics – Blood Types
When you look at blood types (aka. blood groups) you might think that it’s determined by just one allele, but surprisingly, it’s actually multiple alleles, that determine the child’s blood group, and it can get quite complex. So first of all, why are there different blood types in the first place? Well, the A blood group is said to be the first blood type, and existed before humans evolved from hominids, the other blood types are mutations to the gene that were caused in order to combat certain infectious diseases. Later after A type came B type (about 3.5 million years ago), which modified a single sugar on the outside of the red blood cell, and after that (about 2.5 million years ago) came the O gene, which deactivated the sugar completely (this is why in some languages blood type O is called zero or nil). The fact that different blood groups are incompatible however, is a side effect, and wasn’t intended. The reason blood types are incompatible are because So, how is blood type inherited? Each parent passes down a 2-piece combination of either A,B or O genes, A and B genes are dominant, while O is recessive. Because there are 6 different gene combinations from each parent(AA,BB,OO,AB,AO,BO), this makes determining blood type complex, for example, if one parent carries the AA gene, and one the AO gene, there is a chance the offspring obtains either, but they will always show the dominant A type. In the case of AB blood type, the two dominant A and B don’t overcome each other, but rather combine into a type where the blood cell has both antigens on the red blood cell. There is also the Rh factor to consider, which is a protein that covers the red blood cell, this determines the of the blood cell will be positive or negative, positive is dominant over negative, but again there is a chance for either to occur when one of the parents’ genes is Pos/Neg. Overall, the difference in blood type is the antigens in red blood cells, with A containing the A antigen and B antibody in the plasma, B with the B antigen and A antibody, AB with both antigens, and neither antibodies, and O with neither antigens, and both antibodies.
Below is a Punnet square of blood group genes, as well as a diagram of antigens on different blood groups.
Science 10 Honors Bubble Gum Lab
Data:
Conclusion:
In conclusion, my hypotheses for the gum bubble diameter and stretch length were refuted. We observed that the more malleable of the two, Gum B (Big League Chew) was not able to stretch as long as Gum A (Hubba Bubba) but, was able to produce an average larger bubble (by 1cm). Gum B was also able to produce more consistent results, with a gamut of only 4cm, while Gum A ranges by 7cm, indicating that it is more resilient, but less malleable. This is comparable to a balloon and a bike tire tube, the balloon is much more stretchable, but cannot withstand much pressure, compared to a tire tube, that is able to withstand extreme pressure, but does not expand much from equal-to-atmosphere pressure. Some other factors we have considered are how the gum is chewed, as chewing the gum harder would introduce more saliva into the gum and mix it with the gum’s ingredients. Ingredients of the gum could affect the malleability as well, as a gum with more sugars and flavors that may break down from saliva would leave a more pure gum, that could cohere to keep attached longer and therefor stretch longer. Another factor in the gum chewing is body temperature, as gum is most malleable with high temperatures, this can be changed as a person who just chews the gum with their teeth may not heat it as much as someone who puts the gum under their tongue or around their gums, as the blood vessels in the tongue constantly bring warm blood to the tongue. Overall we think there are some questions that need to be rectified, as well as a more time-consistent data chart with more samples (5-10 rather than 3). In this Lab, we used the Standard International units gram and meter, gram for the mass of the gums, and meters (with the SI prefix centi) for diameter of the bubbles. SI units are internationally accepted and used in published research for consistency/unification and to reduce conversion error.