Bioligy Data Analysis Task

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March 2011

GCSE  Biology   Data Analysis Task   The Bleep Test  

Skill I - Interpreting Data

IA (i)
(see graphs)  
(ii) I have devised a general equation based on this derived from the overall spread of data from Lv1-Lv7. It involves using the level number to estimate a BPM reading: Estimated BPM Reading = 127.55 + ( Lv X x 8.75 ). A factor to take into account with this equation is that as a runner reaches Lv8 the BPM estimate becomes less accurate than the estimations from Lv1-Lv7 due to the fact that I have not obtained enough data from this range, so considered unreliable. In my investigation I am analysing the data recorded from 8 people (M) participating in a bleep test and finding ways of explaining the results in scientific terms. Firstly I took the data, found  the averages, and removed any outlining results. I then used the data to draw a graph of the results, firstly in Levels and secondly in the actual speed the runners need to travel until the next beep. I then finally drew a line of best fit.  
IB 
My graphy shows a fairly contant positive trend. The runners heart rate is directly proportional to the bleep levels, so as the heart rate increases the bleep levels also increase, and vice-verca.  Statisticly this is shown as an average increase of 8.75 BPM (9.1%) between each level from 1-7. At Lv5 the positive trend became a lot more gentler. This is reflected in the percentage difference I calculated. Until Lv5 the percentage increase in heart rate from each level was on average 10.75% with a range of just 0.48% (from 10.46-10.94). Then,  between Lv5 and Lv6 there was a dramatic decrease in this increase down to 1.005% (the average from Lv5-Lv7 was also only a 5.67% increase). This part of the graph (Lv5-Lv7) represents the point where the runners hearts were nearing their potential in the size they could expand to and the speed they could pump at. In summary, most of the runners that had stopped by Lv5 did so because they had neared there hearts potential and experienced palpitations (uncomfortably irregular beating of the heart), or breached there levels of comfort on how strenuously and quickly they should work there body. The others that continued running from Lv5 only stopped when had more closely breached their levels of strain and speed that they felt there bodies and heart could endure in reason of the activity. Due to a desire of reaching the highest possible level they had ignored there palpitations until the had reached the bleep level they were wanting to achieve. Beacause in people feel uncomfortable when experiencing palpitations, there is an indiversely proportional relationship between the increasing of the level and the decreasing in the number people willing to continue running. Here is a flow chart diagram illustrating this:
 
IC 
When the beep begins at Lv1  sound waves are admitted from the equipment the runners ears pick up these vibrations. Due to the human instinct to become more active when startled the runner suddenly begins his planned action, running. This is instinct has evolved, along with every other evolutionary improvement the homo group of animals have experienced since their original ancestor, due to the necessity to avoid danger when it threatens them. Extreme danger is mimicked by the bleep, as it primevally came with a brief and usually loud sound from attacking predators. The brain processes this input and interprets it as danger. Epinephrine (Adrenaline) is released from the adrenal glands into the blood stream which caused the heart rate to increase. The epinephrine in the bloodstream also constricts the blood vessels and causes the lungs and air passages to expand. This as an evolutionary element has been developed so the animal can become more physically and mentally acute in the required task of undermining the danger, either predatory or physically, and therefore achieving the goal of surviving. Even though there is no actual danger this stimulus is still active in the modern bodies of homosapien, causing the runners to do this without any actual threat. This process causes the runners respiratory systems and heart rate to experience a dramatic increase in activity. In this particular experiment their heart rate goes from 85 BPM (beats per minute, on average) to an dramatically large increase of 136.3 BPM, an increase of 160.35%. The sudden activity, caused by the release of epinephrine and the outcome it causes,  quickly uses the current adenosine triphosphate in the bloodstream causing a demand in this chemical energy in order for the mucles to contract safely and without producing unwanted chemicals. However, before alveoli in the lungs transfer any oxygen into the bloodstream the respiratory system has already set to work in a system called anaerobic respiration (see equation below). This is when the body respires to produce adenosine triphosphate whilst there is a lack of non-molecular oxygen in blood. This causes the respiratory system to produce adenosine triphosphate but also unwanted latic acid.
Glucose = Carbon Dioxide + Lactic Acid + Water + ATP 
C6H12O6 = 2C3H6O3 + ATP 
After a few seconds of this chemoreceptors in the bloodstream detect this. They detect an CO2 increase in the blood which cause the chemoreceptor cells to send a pulse to sensory neurons in the arteriey walls, transfering these signals to the brain. The brain processes this and knows the lungs need respiring more frequently and it sends signals to the lungs to start breathing more rapidly and expand their alveoli to absorb more oxygen (as with all homeostasis functions in the body it works by means of negative feedback). Glucose in the blood is released from muscles and the liver when needed to be kept constant by homeostasis. The respiratory system now starts respireing as it does usually, by aerobic respiration (see equation below).  
Glucose + Oxygen = Carbon Dioxide + Water + ATP 
C6H12O6 + 6O2 = 6CO2 + 6H2O + ATP                                                                                                                                                                                           As the bleep becomes more rapid, the runners muscles are required to
contract more frequently and with increasing force. An increased amount of adenosine triphosphate is required to do this the amount the resiritory system is currently producing is not enough to suffice. So as well as the oxygen already being absorbed by the aveoli the body uses a small amount of molecular oxygen. The tiny amount lack of oxygen is then detected again by the chemoreceptors in the bloodstream and signals indicating a lack of oxygen are again sent through the sensory neurons and to the brain. The brain then send signals to the lungs to start breathing more rapidly and expand their alveoli to absorb more oxygen. The required amount of adenosine triphosphate is now produced for the muscles to contact at this bleep level. This is why there is a positive correlation between the level of the bleep and the runners BMI. This cycle, for the majority of runners, is broken at the Lv8 mark because the amount of adenosine triphosphate required is too high. This is because lungs and alvioli reach there maximum oxygen intake and cannot transfer stored glucose into adenosine triphosphate at the rate required. There are two different types of muscles used by the runners in this experiment:

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Slow twitch muscles convert adenosine triphosphate into kinetic energy (muscles contracting) more efficiently than fast twitch muscles and use less oxygen to produce the same amount. However the muscles contract for a longer period of time therefore the kinetic energy is produced at a slower rate than fast twitch muscles. Therefore slow twitch muscles prove most usefully for long and strenuous activities. 
Fast twitch muscles can use anaerobic respiration to cause a faster transision of chemical to kinetic energy. They do this only for a relitevely short peiod of time because the effect of the uneffeciency in converting oxygen causes a ...

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