Beetroot experiment. Aim: To investigate how the temperature affects the permeability of beetroot cells and membrane structures.

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Aim: To investigate how the temperature affects the permeability of beetroot cells and membrane structures.

Apparatus:

  • 4 cuvettes   (to pour dye solution into, that will then go into the colorimeter)                          
  • 4 test tubes (to put water and beetroot into)
  • 4 water baths  (to set at a particular temperature, and to place test tubes of dye solution into)
  • 4 thermometers (to measure to temperature of the water into the test tubes that are in the water baths)
  • 1 raw beetroot (to test the effect of temperature in the beetroot structure)
  • Colorimeter (to measure the amount of light absorbed in the dye solution)
  • 1 scalpel  (to cut the beetroot)
  • 1 ruler (to measure sizes of beetroots, that will be cut)
  • 1 measuring cylinder (to measure distilled water that will go into the beaker)
  • Pipette (to measure amount of water that will go into the test tube)
  • Distilled water (to mix with the beetroot and test its absorbance of light)
  • 1 tile (to cut beetroot on top of)
  • 1 plastic beaker (to put distilled water and beetroot pieces into to wash off any excess dye)
  • Marker (to mark all test tubes as to prevent contamination)
  • Clock (to measure how much time the beetroot was in the distilled water for)

Safety:  For this experiment standard laboratory safety precautions must be used, for example carrying steadily liquids this is because the water could cause injury in the form of burns, if this is to happen you must run the burnt part with cold water this will then reduce the temperature of the burnt area and reduce the pain and burns in the long term.

As well as that you must tie long hair back t-shirts must be tucked with ties, as they could get caught somewhere or they might hit the liquid causing it to spill or any other accidents. Also you must wear goggles in case liquid hits your eyes. At the end of the experiment it is essential that you wash your hands. All clothing and bags should be left under the tables as this could cause people to trip and even fall on the chemicals used in this experiment causing pain to the person. Additionally, it is essential that you always carry scalpels clasped to a tile and with the tip pointing away from you.

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Variables

  1. Independent variable: temperature of the dye (water/beetroot solution)

As the temperature will be altered it is the independent variable, as I will be changing it to see its affects on the beetroots cell membranes permeability. Therefore, I will control the temperature by placing the dyes that will go in the test tubes, into water baths; this will control the temperature as water baths will remain the same temperature throughout the experiment, thus so will the dye

  1. Dependent variable: the absorbance of light by the beetroot pieces

I will attempt to control this by cutting ...

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Overall, this assignment suffers to some degree from a lack of clarity in the use of scientific terms. As already mentioned, it is vital for A'Level students to be confident in their understanding of terms such as accurate, reliable and valid. The report needs a clear aim and hypothesis. Without these, it lacked clear focus. It also lacked the required depth of biological knowledge needed to analyse the data. It is vital that assignments are checked by the writer before being submitted to ensure that sentences make sense and any grammatical errors eliminated. The overall investigation did, however, generate some useful data that could have led to some valid conclusions.