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Beetroot Lab Report

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Beetroot Lab Report
Biology, Bio 110; October 1, 2014 Observing Membrane Structure and Observing Effects of Chemical stress on Membrane
Crystal Eve Lopez, Dr. Barua Madhabi Keywords: beet root model system, spectrophotometer, betacyanin, cellular membrane, phospholipid Abstract
The cellular membrane separates and protects the cell acting almost as a wall. Depending on what stressors there are the cellular membrane can become damaged. The objective of this experiment was to examine the structure of the cell membrane using the beet root model system by observing the effects of solvents on the beet root. The beet root was placed in seven solvents to see if the beetroot would leak any of its color to see if the membrane was damaged and by
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The color intensity was observed by eye and measured using a spectrophotometer. Of the solvents that had beetroot, .9% saline had a color intensity of .002, 1% acetone had .009,
25% acetone produced an intensity of .119, 50% with the intensity of .647, 1% alcohol had .006,
25% alcohol had .022, and 50% alcohol had .177. The highest concentration of acetone inflicted more damage on the membrane of the beetroot causing it to leak its betacyanin in a higher intensity than any of the other solvents had caused. Acetone and methanol can both cause damage to the membrane of the beetroot but acetone has a greater ability and is more damaging.
The beet root model system shows the effects of chemical stress on membranes.

Introduction:
The membrane of the cell contains and separates the cell from the outside and itself. It has
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The tonoplast models the membrane and that is how we are able to observe and model the membrane system.
Of the solvents the higher concentration of acetone inflicted more damage on the membrane of the beetroot causing it to leak its betacyanin in a higher intensity than any of the other solvents had caused. When it was put in the spectrophotometer we saw the intensity of the color was
.647; significantly higher than the other solvents. Of all the solvents the isotonic solution of .9% slaine had the lowest concentration of betacyanin. This is because the .9% saline solvent is representative of normal conditions in the cell which are isotonic meaning everything is balanced. Membranes are sensitive not only to chemical changes but to temperature changes as well as .
They are sensitive to extreme temperatures in both directions of the scale. Extremely high temperatures make that molecules in the cell move faster and collide into themselves violently.
Extremely low temperatures causes water in the cell to crystallize and form ice. The formation of ice can cause the cell to expand and sometimes rupture the

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