Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!
Remote Ready Biology Learning Activities has 50 remote-ready activities, which work for either your classroom or remote teaching.
Crystal, Luisana and Eri
Crystal, Luisana and Eri
PART I:
In the initial experiment that we conducted as a class, we observed the effect of temperature upon how the two drops of dye dispersed in the water. In the room temperature water, we found that the drops of dye slowly dispersed and began to move towards the bottom of the beaker. (It was concluded that this may have to do with the effects of gravity on the drops of dye themselves.)
In comparison to how the dye moved in the warm water, the drops of dye immediately began to disperse at a faster rate than in room-temperature water and change the color of the water and also, when we experimented with the cold water, the dye seemed to form a gel like structure. Therefore, we came up with a hypothesis that the temperature is a huge factor when considering how quickly and how wide something disperses.
PART II:
Our observations:
2 microns: (30 seconds) 18.2 microns
4 microns: (30 seconds) 42 microns
(We were unable to observe the other micron-measure since the other two beads were sticking to the surface and couldn't be observed to be moving.)
Through our observations, we found that in the 2 microns slide, it was moving in a smaller concentrated area in comparison to the 4 microns slide, which was moving one general direction. We found that the larger the microns size, they covered more ground.
PART III:
In this last portion of the experiment, we initially observed that there are cell membranes that adhere very closely to the cell walls of the onion sample when covered in distilled water.
Later, the more salt water we added, the more the cell membrane pulled away from the cell wall, leaving clear spaces in between as if they had shriveled. This was most visible in the cells with purple coloring.
Finally, when we pulled distilled water back across the slide and looked at the onion cells, the cell membrane appeared to have re-inflated and filled the space within the cell walls again without any gaps. Also, the color of the cell membrane seemed to have faded.
Previously we observed gravity, and different temperatures playing a part in causing the dye to disperse within the water. In this case, we observed the different solutions (salt water and distilled water) affecting the membranes within the cell walls. The introduction of the salt water appears to have drawn the water out of the cell membranes, causing them to shrink. When distilled water washed back over the onion sample, the membranes soaked in the water and appeared full once more, similarly completely filling the area within the cell wall.