Organic Molecules

Biology – Lab report

Organic Molecules 1: Qualitative Measurements

What’s in your dietary supplement?
Learning Objectives
• State and test a simple hypothesis
• Discuss qualitative data and quantitative data
• Identify a method for detecting organic molecules in protein supplements
• Practice unit conversions and micropipetting skills

Types of measurements

• What is qualitative data?

• Your task is to determine the makeup of three different commercially available protein supplements. Upon completion of testing, you will recommend the supplement
with the highest protein levels and lowest amounts of starch and sugar to consumers.

Getting comfortable w/ concentrations
1. Which grid has the highest concentration of dots?
2. What are the concentrations of the grids?
3. On Grid A, which box (small or large) has the highest concentration of dots?

Practice Conversions
• Josie wants to make one serving size of oatmeal. The box
says to mix 50 g of oatmeal with 8 fl. oz. of water to obtain
one serving size.
• How many mL of water does Josie need? (1 fl. oz. = 29.6
mL)
• What is the concentration of oatmeal to water in g/mL?
X 29.6 mL
1 fl.oz. 8 fl.oz. = 236.8 mL
50g/236.8 mL
Or
0.211 g/mL
50g
8 fl.oz. X 1 fl.oz.= 29.6 mL
Practice conversions
• Josie only wants to make 50 mL of oatmeal. The box says
to mix 50 g of oatmeal with 8 fl. oz. of water to obtain one
serving size.
• 1. How many grams of oatmeal does Josie need to add to
50 mL of water?
50g
236.8mL X 50mL = 10.56g
Protein Supplements
• Take a look at the protein supplements you will be testing.
• You will only prepare 2 mL of each supplement. On your
Lab 4 document, calculate how many grams of supplement you need to add to 2 mL of water.
Concentrations should be equivalent to those defined on the label.
• Have your TA approve your calculations when you are finished.

Your Task: Determine whether supplements contain protein, starch, and sugar
• Using information from nutrition labels, come up with a hypothesis for your experiment.
• Design an experiment to determine the presence/absence of organic molecules in supplements.
• Use the information in your Lab 4 document under “Identifying Organic Molecules in Supplements” to design your experiment.
• Write down how many test tubes you will have and what contents each tube will contain. Be sure to define your positive and negative controls as well as experimental
constants.
Sample Protocol Table
Reagent/
substance
Water Protein Starch Sugar Sup. A Sup. B Sup. C
Biuret’s
Lugol’s
Benedict’s

Why are you doing this project?
How will you let the reader know why you are doing this project?
How will you phrase it?

The Writing Process
Brainstorming
Literature searches and reading
Writing drafts
Editing
Turning in final product
Write for your audience.
When writing your lab reports, who should you keep in mind as your audience?
A. Your instructor
B. Your peers or a general audience.
C. Yourself
Flow of ideas in scientific writing:
The hourglass model
1. Start broad with the introduction.
2. Slowly tighten the scope of your writing by adding info from references, providing rationale for your experiment
3. End your introduction with your hypothesis or objective.
4. Describe your methods
5. Present your results using figures and tables
6. Write about important trends in your data in sentence form.
7. In your discussion, indicate whether or not your hypothesis was supported.
8. Add information from references to compare and contrast your findings with
others’.
9. End the report with the implications of the experiment.
1
2
3
4 ,5 ,6
7
8
9

Flow of ideas in scientific writing:
The hourglass model
Start broad with the introduction.
Which topic would be best to start with?
A. Spectrophotometers and how they work
B. The reagents and the color reaction
C. Protein Supplements
D. Organic molecules

Flow of ideas in scientific writing:
The hourglass model
! Tighten the scope by using references
! Which topic would be best narrow down the are of study?
A. Spectrophotometers and how they work?
B. The reagents and the color reaction
C. Protein Supplements
D. Organic molecules

Flow of ideas in scientific writing:
The hourglass model
! Provide Rationale for your study
! Which topic would be best narrow down the are of study?
A. Spectrophotometers and how they work?
B. The reagents and the color reaction
C. Protein Supplements
D. Organic molecules

Flow of ideas in scientific writing:
The hourglass model
! End with your hypothesis
Introduction:
Starting broad with “the big picture”
! Which topic would be best to start an introduction?
A. The hypothesis of our experiment was that the concentration of protein in
the supplement would be lower than the label states.
B. Living organisms are made up of a variety of organic molecules. Organic
molecules are composed of carbon atoms in long chains or rings that are
attached to other atoms.
C. Organic molecules. What are they? Imagine a tiny living cell with all
these carbon atoms hooked together in chains or rings. These are hooking
up with other atoms and doing amazing things for your body. This is why
we study organic molecules
D. Biology is the study of life. Organic molecules are important to life and
are therefore important to study.
E. Our lab group began by mixing up protein supplements and testing them
with reagents. Ultimately we would be able to compare the protein
concentration of our supplement to the concentration on the label.
Introduction:
Adding rationale
Which of the following could be included as valid
rationale for the project?
A. Organic molecules are easily created.
B. Identifying and quantifying organic molecules in dietary supplements is important when planning for appropriate nutritional intake.
C. Dietary supplements are sold in many stores and online.

Introduction:
Hypotheses and Objectives
Which of the following could be an appropriate way to close the introduction section?
A. It is hypothesized the protein concentration of our supplements will be lower than the concentration on the label.
B. Objective: To determine the concentration of protein in protein supplements.
C. The objective of this research project is to determine the presence and concentrations of proteins and other organic molecules in our protein supplements.
FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENTS TO BE DONE AT A CHEAPER PRICE PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US NOW