Beet Experiment Lab Report

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Abstract This experiment was conducted to determine if temperature or a chemical has greater stress on beet cells, which would damage the membrane of the beet cell. The vacuole in a beet contains the red pigments (Nuffield, 2011). If the membranes are disordered, than the pigments can pass through the cellular wall (Nuffield, 2011). The hypothesis predicted for this lab was if the temperature was higher, than the more stress in the membrane because the colder something is the slower the process is. For the chemicals, acetone was predicted to have the most effect on the cell membrane because it has high acidity. The hand soap was set on having the least damage because it was the lowest acidity before water and it would be too strong …show more content…

The lipid bilayer is a boundary to hydraulic solutions (“Cellular Membranes”, N/A). They help keep the internal environment balanced regardless of the external conditions (“Cellular Membranes”, N/A). The red pigments from the beet is found in the vacuole (Nuffield, 2011). In the event that the membrane becomes disordered, the pigments of the beet can pass through the cellular wall which causes the red color when touching it (Nuffield, 2011). This experiment determined what temperature and what type of chemical had the most effect on the membrane of a beet. It was hypothesized that if the beet was put in a higher temperature, then it would have harm the membrane therefore releasing the most pigment into the water, rather than a cooler temperature. This was predicted because when a substance or particle is placed in a cold temperature, the process slows down and when it out in a warmer temperature the process speeds up. For the different chemicals, it was hypothesized that when the beet was put in acetone, it would release the most pigments because it was the most acidic chemical; if it's strong enough to take off a chemical like nail polish then it would break the membrane of the beet. The hand soap was thought to have the least effect on the membrane of the beet because its acidity was a little higher

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