Macromolecule Testing Lab

The Lab:

In this lab we wanted to use standard solutions to identify positive and negative controls of different indicators. We did this by using standard solutions such as glucose, starch, gelatin, and vegetable oil, and indicators including benedicts, iodine, biuret, and paper towels. For the first part of the lab, which was monosachhrides indicator test, you mix glucose and benedicts, and water and benedicts which is then heated at 100° C for 2 minutes. The next part of the test, the starch indicator test, is just a mixture of starch and iodine, and iodine and water which is then gently swirled. The third test, the protein indicator test, is a mixture of gelatin and biuret and water and biuret. And lastly the lipid indicator test, which is where we put water and vegetable oil on a paper towel to see which is the most opaque.

Later we ran the same exact experiments and tests as before but instead of the standard solutions we chose food to replace it with. We chose to do cheese crackers which we grinded up and experimented with. By doing this we could figure about about how much of each macromolecule was present in the crackers. By how much the color changed showed how much of each was in it. And after we tested it, we concluded that there is a small amount of sugar, a lot of starch, and a moderate amount of protein. And after doing this experiment I learned that not only crackers but all sorts of foods can contain multiple macromolecules.

Reflection:

This lab was a bit complicated at times, and my team was behind a bit because we had messed up a couple times on mixing the crackers with the indicators. But despite that we got pretty decent data, and we all tried our best to take turns and contribute equally to the experiment. And so I would say that a 6C we should work on would be conscientious learner, and a 6C that we used well in this lab would be collaboration. We had poor time management skills and that caused us to only get one set of data, which is why I think we should work on conscientious learner skills. But we all participated and so our collaboration skills were good in this lab.