Sarah+J

flat =About Me= Hi, I'm Sarah, I am a freshman in high school and I am in the academic curriculum. I run the 100m and 300m hurdles along with the 4x4 in track and field. I play the saxophone in the marching, concert, and jazz band. I also play the violin. I have been in ballet for almost 12 years. My favorite school subjects are science, art, gym, and health. When I graduate I would like to either continue training in ballet at Slippery Rock or do something science or health related. I have a brother and a sister who are both younger then me. In my spare time I am either studying for a test and dancing just for fun. The one thing that bugs me the most is when someone says they can't do something. My theory is you can do anything if you just try hard enough. The Dance Crew! = = =Cherry Tree= The scientific name of the cherry tree is //pensylvanica L.f.// It is related to many other trees such as the Bing Cherry, Yoshino Cherry, Wild Cherry, Sand Cherry, Okame Cherry, Montmorency Cherry, Ground Cherry and Dwarf Cherry. It is Deciduous with a toothed or serrated margin, it is simple and has alternate leaves. Three characteristics of the tree itself are that the twigs are slender, or smooth, with a glossed bright red, and sometimes may have a grayish coating. When the bark is younger it is a reddish brown that is smooth, and older trunks are rougher and the outer bark will peel of and reveal a green colored bark.The fruit is a light red drupe that is around 1/4 in diameter. Some good uses for this tree are that it can be used for fertilizer, as it has a good nutrition value and it is also good for furniture such as tables, cabinets and so forth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Blossom_Trees

=Devil's Club= The second tree I researched is the Devil's Club. The scientific name of the Devil's Club is //Oplopanax horridus//, Araliaceae; syn. //Echinopanax horridus//, //Fatsia horrida.// Other trees it is related to are the American Spikenard, Angelica Tree, and Bristly Sarsaparilla. It is Deciduous with lobed leaves, and it is compound palmate. Three characteristics of the tree is that the stems are covered in little yellow spines that break off very easily. The Devil's Club is sensitive to the impact of humans and does not reproduce quickly. And lastly, It mostly blooms in mid-summer. A specific use of this tree is Native Americans used it to treat tumors, and diabetes and is also still used to make paint. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Club

=Biomolecules in Food, Lab/ Analysis= __Avocado:__ 2. Proteins: 3. Fats & Oils:
 * 1) Simple Sugars:
 * The Iodine test showed that simple sugars are present.
 * The Benedict's test showed that the simple sugars were absent.
 * The Biuret test showed that the proteins were absent.
 * The Sudan IV test showed that both fats and oils were present.

__Analysis:__ Discuss the food you tested and the results from each of the 4 tests. Also discuss one other food that your group tested and those results.


 * The food I tested was the avocado. The results I had gotten for the first test, The Iodine test, was looking for simple sugars. The simple sugars were present in this test. In the second test for the same thing, simple sugars, this time using the Benedict's solution, the tests result was that the simple sugars were absent. The second test, was looking for proteins within the food. I used the Biuret dye to show the proteins in the food. Therefore when I tested it it showed that proteins were absent. Lastly, the Sudan IV test used a red dye to look for fats & oils within the avocado. The test showed that both fats and oils were present.


 * After I had completed looking at the results from other classmates most of their information showed that the majority of fruits had fats and starches in them, and some did not. Simple sugars were also found in all of the fruits. Proteins were not as common as the fats and starches in the fruit. Another food was meat. Meat showed that it had many fats and proteins within it and also it had a low amount of starches in it and little to no simple sugars found in it. And Lastly, the vegetables had shown that fats and simple sugars were not present. There were a variety of results for the proteins and starches tests.

Class Results: >
 * In the chart shown above, It displays how many of the groups had tested present or absent for each of the foods.
 * One of the few things that had surprised me was that the Beans had starch in them which I had always though that beans just had protein and some fats within them. Another thing was that only proteins were found in the egg whites. I had expected that same sort of fat or oil would be present within them. My final example is that potatoes had contained starches in them. I have thought that potatoes were protein filled.

= = =Food Issues Infographic=
 * I had searched nutritional facts on Bananas and it shows that there are some sugars in the bananas. It also shows that there are no fats, saturated, nor trans fat. There is also 1 gram of protein in a single banana. Another food I researched for nutritional facts is an avocado. There is 22 grams total of fat in a single Avocado. Sugars and proteins are also shown that they are in avocados but they are not as high in concentration as the total fat. In the test it shows there were no fats in avocados meanwhile the nutrition information shows that there is fats in avocados.

=Biomolecules Infographic=

=Photosynthesis Infographic=

=DNA Extraction Human Cheek Cell Lab Homework= Did everyone in your group have about the same extraction results? Why is this the case? How is the amount of DNA that you extracted affected by your day to day activities?

Everyone in the group did not have the same extraction results. This is the case because if they had eaten before we did the lab there is more saliva produced and there is DNA in saliva which means if they eat more the more DNA is there. If they didn’t eat at all it is the opposite, there is less DNA from not much saliva. The amount of DNA that you extracted is affected by the normal day to day activities like eating.

=DNA Replication Summary =

The two bases Adenine and Guanine are what is Purines, and the bases Thymine and Cytosine are what are Pyrimidines. One Purine and one Pyrimidine must pair up such as Guanine and Cytosine pair together, and Adenine and Thymine pair together. First to break the hydrogen you need helicase, which is an enzyme that breaks apart DNA. You basically have the two strands and they begin to split apart and the bonds between the two are still present. The place where the DNA strands begin to split is the replication fork. The strand that is on the top is the leading strand and the strand beneath is the lagging strand. Then single stranded binding proteins keep the DNA strands from coming back together.

In the next step Primase which, is an enzyme, attaches to the strand to create a starting point. Then the polymerase which, is also an enzyme, binds and begins to replicate the DNA.

In the replication of a lagging strand all of the steps remain the same except it is changed a little because during DNA replication the new strands of DNA have to be made in a 5’ to 3’ direction. On the leading strand the process occurs in a straight continuous line. However, the lagging strand has to be done in small sections, as the direction of the replication must still be 5’ to 3’. Therefore, the fragments of DNA called okazaki fragments appear. They are later on joined using the enzyme ligase to form a completely new DNA strand.

= DNA Infographic =

=Infectious and Genetic Diseases Infographic=