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Our Project
Our Project
For our project, we wanted to determine how water levels in the body achieved homeostasis. We tested this by having multiple participants drink different amounts of water. We would then measure how long it took for the different participants to excrete the water. Our hypothesis was that if you drank more water, then you would urinate faster, because the kidney would process the water faster. One participant drank 8oz, another drank 16oz, another drank 24oz, and the last drank 32oz. We compared this to the time it took a person who drank 0oz of water to urinate.
Procedure and Materials
Procedure and Materials
Drink a certain amounts of water varying on each group member (0oz, 8oz, 16oz, 24 oz, and 32 oz).
0 oz is the control group and the other participants are part of the experimental group.
When finished with all the water start a stopwatch
When the participant has to unirnate, stop the stopwatch and use the restroom.
Compare the data and time when the water passed through the participant's system. The independent variable is the amount of water the subject drank and the dependent variable is time the subject needed to urinate.
Materials:
Refresh Water Bottles and stopwatches.
The Results
The Results
We did not find any correlation between the amount of water drank and the time it took someone to urinate.
Why Is this?
Why Is this?
This is likely due to the fact that our experiment was not conducted under an environment that was heavily controlled. We did not account for physical traits like bladder or kidney size, the physical health that the participants were in, nor the amount of liquid consumed before the experiment. This was an oversight, and it undermined the scientific legitimacy that our experiment had.
Biology Concepts
Biology Concepts
Homeostasis - Homeostasis is the state of equilibrium that organs and organ systems try to achieve and maintain. Our test was designed to see how the kidneys and the urinary system achieved homeostasis.
Cell - A cell is the basic building block of all living things. Cells are the smallest form of living things. The kidneys and all other organs in the urinary system are composed of cells.
Tissue - When cells come together, they form tissues. There are four types of tissues -- connective, epithelial, muscle, and nervous. The kidney is mostly made up of connective tissue.
Organ - Organs are made when tissues come together for a common goal. The kidney is an example of this, as it has many types of connective tissue that come together to try to filter the body's waste.
Organ System - Organ systems are made of multiple organs working together for a cause. An example of this is the urinary system. Along with the kidney, it contains the bladder, urethra, and ureters. All of these organs work together to urinate, and filter the body's water.
Feedback Loops - Homeostasis is achieved through the body using feedback loops. A feedback loop is made up of a stimulus, receptors, and effectors. For example, if a dog climbs up on the couch when you do not want them to, then you could tell them not to do that again, and they are less likely to do this in the future. This is an example of a negative feedback loop, where the dog on the couch is the stimulus, you telling them not to do it again is the receptor, and them not doing it again is the effector. On the other hand, if the dog does something good, and you reward it, this is a positive feedback loop. Organs and organ systems use a mix of positive and negative feedback loops to achieve homeostasis.
What I Did Well
What I Did Well
Two things that I did well are time management and adaptation. Firstly, I managed my time well because my group and I were capable of getting the project done on time, and we were quite efficient. When we had to get something done, we all put our best foot forward and fully focused on the project. The second thing that we did well was adapt. We originally planned a different experiment, but the school did not have the resources to test our experiment. At that time, we quickly re-wrote our hypothesis, procedure, and everything else so that we could still run an experiment. This did not slow us down and we were able to overcome the challenges.
What I Could Improve On
What I Could Improve On
Two things that I could improve on is foresight and having more than one plan. We originally wanted to test an experiment based on weight, but there was no scale in the school. This could have been prevented if I had the foresight to ask someone if there was a scale at the school. If there wasn't, then one of my group mates could have brought a scale. Secondly, I should have had a back up plan in case the first plan failed. This would have prevented the need to spend valuable time rewriting our experiment and procedure.
6 C's
6 C's
Two of the 6 C's that I demonstrated were communication and collaboration. During the project, I was at my house while the rest of my group was at school. This could have been an issue for our communication, but we were able to work around it and we still managed to communicate effectively. As for collaboration, we were able to divide and conquer quite effectively. Everyone in my group had a goal that they set for themselves, and we were all able to achieve it. When we needed help from each other, we were willing to help. This was a great team to work with because we were collaborating on every aspect of the project.
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