Macromolecules Labs
Project Description
For this project, we learned about macromolecules and what is in the food we eat in terms of these macromolecules. In this project, we took food from home and mashed it into a liquid form and used different indicator solutions to test it for the four different macromolecules. We tested a hard boiled egg and a slice of wheat bread. Our prediction for this lab is that the egg would contain protein and the bread would contain carbohydrates. Our hypothesis was partially correct. We found that bread contains carbohydrates and starch. We also found that our egg contains protein and fatty acids which we didn't expect. Below I have included an image of the lab where we did the 4 tests to test our 2 foods for macromolecules and a lab clear paragraph explaining our results and what our data means.
Vocabulary
Macromolecule - A bunch of molecules bound together. There are 4 main macromolecules, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates.
Proteins: A macromolecule that provides cell structure and is made of amino acids.
Lipids: Lipids are made up of fatty acids. You get these from food that have lots of fat like peanut butter or avocados. Lipids provide cells with energy they need for the long term. It also stores the energy long term.
Nucleic Acids: Nucleic Acids are made up of nucleotides and carry genetic information. They can be found in foods like eggs.
Carbohydrates: These are made up of monosaccharides which are simple sugars. These can be found in foods like bread, tortillas, and pasta. They give short term energy and storage for your cells.
Monomer: Monomers are the building blocks for larger molecules like Polymers
Polymers: A large molecule made of a bunch of monomers. It is what macromolecules are made of.
Reflection
I feel like I did well on this project. I understood the concepts and I was able to conduct a lab that proved that the food we eat have certain macromolecules in them. I didn't know that eggs had fatty acids in them and I also didn't know that not all fat is bad for you including the fatty acids in the egg we tested. I also feel like I understand how it all works and what the role of each of the macromolecules are and how we get them in the food we eat. One thing I could do better is be more exact on the experiments. During the fatty acids test, I used about 0.75mL of Biuret's and not exactly. This could have skewed our results but I doubt it made a difference this time. I just have to remember to be precise for next time. I also feel like I could have taken better data and done a control set during the lab. That way we can tell if the egg or bread wasn't reacting the way it should be, or if there was no macromolecule present. I felt like I was a good collaborator during this project. I helped out my team and did my fair share of the total workload. I also felt like I was a good critical thinker. I picked 2 foods that would get a positive result from the 4 tests so we could see what the positive reactions were instead of picking 2 foods I like to eat.