Web Activity: Macromolecules in cells

1. What is a Macromolecule?

Refers to a class of large molecules that are very important biologically.

2. What is monomer?

Is a bunch of several molecules that are chemically bonded to form long polymer molecules.

3. What is a polymer?

Are macromolecules that are built and broken down in the same way.

4. List the four main types of macromolecules:

 a. Proteins b. lipids. c. carbohydrates d. nucleic acids

5. What are the types of reactions that macromolecules are shown to undergo?
The types of reactions that macromolecules are shown undergo are condensation and hydrolysis reactions.

1.   Describe how monomers are joined together.
Condensation forms the molecules, they are joined by gaining other molecules. They just all attach to each other.

  

2.Describe how polymers are broken down.
A process called hydrolysis break down polymers.

3. What is the specific name for the bond between simple sugar monomers?
Glycosidic linkages

4.  Which kind of enzyme joins monomers together?
Proteins

Back on the previous macromolecules page, scroll down to the section on carbohydrates. In the learning materials box for carbohydrates click the link to the “build a carbohydrate” activity.

5.Describe how you had to arrange the sugar monomers in order to build a polysaccharide.
They corners must connect so the oxygens can join and they make a polysaccharide.

6. Which building blocks of macromolecules are not used in building carbohydrates?
Amino acids & fatty acids

Back on the previous carbohydrates page, click on the link on the bottom of the page labeled “More on Carbohydrates.”  Read the article and answer these questions:

 
7. Why is sugar stored as glycogen in the human body?
It is stored in your body because when you need energy its like a back up plan to get you boosted up.

8.  Why are plant foods essential to animal life?
Thats where the animals get their energy.

9.  Describe how starch is digested by animals.
The saliva in their mouth breaks it down and then goes in the digestive system.

10. What is “fiber” and why is it important in your diet?
Fiber is a special type of carbonhydrate and plays an important role for your blood sugar levels.

11. What causes you to pass gas (fart) according to the article?
Their is too much air in your stomach and it needs to escape, either a burp or gas also know as a FART! :)

Scroll back up to the top of the carbohydrates article and click on the link in the text to “Low Carbo Madness” and read the linked article.

12.      What are some disadvantages of a low-carb diet?

Return to the original carbohydrates lesson page and click on the link on the bottom “Carbohyrates and Cavities” and read the linked page.

13.      Describe the role that sugars play in cavity formation in your teeth.

Acid in your tummy. .

When you have a tummy ache you take medicine to make yourself feel better. We tested two pills and baking soda mixed with  vinegar which acts like the acid in your stomach. We used strips to measure the level of ph it contains. We did tums and the generic pills to investigate what one worked better. Since its generic I knew it would have worked super good but the baking soda bubbled like crazy. I guessed it right and the tum's ph was the smallest however the baking soda was the biggest.

drip.. drop .. WATER!

Trying to drag water from one beaker into another through a 15 inch. string was very difficult. Getting closer and closer we about made it half way in the end. We found out that if you wet the string it would help to make the water travel faster. In this process it is similar to how a tree gets water. We all know that roots absorb up the water but how does it go up the tree? The drops of water are located up and down the tree all connected sending a message of water. It bumps one and then bumps all the others up. Practically moving the drop up and up and up.



http://youtu.be/aHUEtxbDL90

What i learned. . .

Looking up on the website, I was very interested how science was compared to a "cookbook". It quotes, "pull a problem off the shelf, throw in an observation, mix in a few questions, sprinkle on a hypothesis, put the whole mixture into a 350° experiment — and voila, 50 minutes later you'll be pulling a conclusion out of the oven!" An observation is looking (observing) the items that you will be working with and not playing with them at all. Then you guess or predict what will happen using your "if", "then", and "because", which is called a hypothesis. Soon enough you put all the things into action and begin your experiment. Testing your hypothesis, you gather all your data, making you closer to your conclusion.  However, experiments are not just that easy, their are little things you need to know about. A variable is a type of object that you are measuring. Two variables called independent variable and dependent variable are two different things. Independent variables stand alone and are not effected by other things. For examples: How old you are can be an independent variable, factors such as exercise, dieting, or doing your nails will not change your age. On the other hand a dependant variable is exactly how it sounds, and depends on other factors. For example: Test scores could be a dependant variable and it will and can be effected by the amount of sleep or the amount of study.


A double-blind trial is actually very funny, well it is to me anyways. A vaccine or medication is known to heal or help others. Most medicines have the all the ingrediants but others have only 50% or less. The doctor gives the patient a placebo (medication with less that 30% or more). Tells the boy to take this for a week and you will feel better, soon enough the kid is up on his feet jumping around. Why is it that even though its not all medication it helped him? Its kind of like its all mental. .  cool right? So all in all , the patient or the doctor know which group of medicine your getting , you don't even know of your taking the placebo or the real medicine.