Home Economics - Why is nutrition important to sports people?
In order to obtain an idea for a task I could research, I decided to do an initial brainstorm of all the areas that would be possible to complete the project on (see fig1, next page). The factors that would affect my decision of what area to choose, were how easy it would be for me to research the topic, whether I knew people I could speak to about it and whether it was something that interested me. Because of these, I decided to research into nutrition for rowing. This was because I am a rower myself which meant that it would interest me, I would already know about the topic and I knew a variety of people who would be able to provide information and help on the subject. For research: To start the project I needed to carry out some preliminary, general research into the sport and its demands. The following are some things I needed to research: o Sports nutrition o Nutritional requirements of a normal person o Nutritional requirements of a rower o What a rower should eat on the day of, and during the week before, a race. Preliminary research Sources To ensure that I could gat a balanced set of information I decided to use data from several media types. These could include magazines, people, websites, books and companies. The following are some sources I thought would be useful: o ARA (amateur rowing association) o Internet - including rowing websites, BBC website,
An investigation into the efficiency of alcohols as fuels.
Joe Taylor 11T Chemistry coursework An investigation into the efficiency of alcohols as fuels Planning The aim of the experiment is to investigate the use of five alcohols as fuels. The combustion of alcohols is exothermic, meaning that when burnt they give off more heat than they take in. This makes them useful as fuels, and many countries are adopting alcohol fuels, for example Brazil. Therefore it seems useful and topical that the efficiency of the alcohols should be investigated. The alcohols methanol, ethanol, propan-1-ol and propan-2-ol will be tested. In order to evaluate the efficiency of these alcohols as fuels, their enthalpies will be investigated. Alcohols are perfect for testing, as they are all liquids with the same weight. Therefore weight is not a variable, and it is only the heat given off that is to need be considered. From previous organic chemistry studies the structures and formation of alkanes, alkenes and alcohols were known, along with the energy values for the bonds within alcohols themselves. This allowed for the creation of the bond energy table below. Bond Bond Energy (kJmol-1) C-H 435 O=O 497 C=O 803 H-O 464 C-C 347 C-O 358 These are the alcohol's formulae: Methanol: CH3OH Ethanol: C2H5OH Propan-1-ol: C3H7OH Propan-2-ol: C3H7OH Pentanol: C5H11OH Each of these reacts with Oxygen (0=0) in combustion For a pictorial
Objective To find out the equilibrium constant, Kc, for the reaction below, using acid hydrolysis:
Determining an Equilibrium Constant Objective To find out the equilibrium constant, Kc, for the reaction below, using acid hydrolysis: Principle Although the hydrolysis of ethyl ethanoate is very slow, by using dilute hydrochloric acid as catalyst, the above equilibrium can be attained in 48 hours. After 48 hours, the reaction mixture can then be titrated with standard sodium hydroxide solution. Finally, the equilibrium concentrations of four components below and hence, Kc of hydrolysis of CH3COOCH2CH3 can then be calculated: Chemicals 2M HCl, 1.0335M NaOH, ethyl ethanoate, phenolphthalein indicator Apparatus 5 small reagent bottles, 5ml pipette & filler, burette, measuring cylinder, conical flask, electronic balance, stand, white tile Procedure -- Preparation, allow reaching equilibrium position 1.> Label 5 reagent bottles & their stoppers as 1A, 1B, 2, 3 and 4. 2.> Weigh each reagent bottles with their stoppers and record their corresponding masses in Table 3. 3.> Pipette 2M HCl into each bottles, using measuring cylinders to transfer ethyl ethanoate into bottles 2,3,4 and water into bottles 3,4 according to the amount shown in Table 1. Table 1 shows the amount of chemicals added: Reagent bottle's number A B 2 3 4 Volume of HCl(aq) added /cm3 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.0 Volume of CH3COOCH2CH3(l) added /cm3 - - 5.0 4.0 2.0 Volume of H2O(l) added /cm3
An Investigation into the Mitotic Nuclear Division of Allium Sativum Root Tip Cells, and the Relative Duration of Each Phase of this Cellular Cycle
An Investigation into the Mitotic Nuclear Division of Allium Sativum Root Tip Cells, and the Relative Duration of Each Phase of this Cellular Cycle. Aim To conduct an investigation into the relative durations of the phases that occur in the mitotic nuclear division of meristematic Allium Sativum root tip cells, evaluating the validity of a hypothesis proposed that states that these mitotic phase durations will be of different. Hypothesis The Expected Results: The Relative Length of Each Stage of Mitotic Nuclear Division Through the process of conducting background research, it has been possible to suggest a theoretical ratio concerning the timing for each stage of the mitotic cycle; "Although the stages of mitosis are necessarily shown as static events, it must be emphasized that the process is a continuous one and the names "anaphase", "metaphase", etc., do not imply that the process of mitosis comes to a halt at this juncture. Moreover, the stages shown are not selected at regular intervals of time, e.g. in the embryonic cells of a particular grasshopper the timing at 38°C is as follows: prophase 100 min, metaphase 15 min, anaphase 10 min, telophase 60 min." 1 These specified times essentially form the ratio that will be used throughout the investigation (dividing each stage in the ratio by a factor of 5 provides the ratio (20:3:2:12), and allow a range of
The Compound Pendulum
The Compound Pendulum Task: * To confirm that a metre rule behaves as a compound pendulum when oscillating; * To determine the acceleration due to gravity using a compound pendulum. Planning: Sources used in research of the above tasks are: . A Text-Book of Practical Physics - William Watson; page 129 2. Laboratory Physics - JH Avery & AWK Ingram; page 69 3. Intermediate Physics - CJ Smith; page 50 4. The Text-Book of General Physics - GR Noakes; page 394 5. Intermediate Mechanics - D Humphrey; page 60 6. Introduction to Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Second Edition) - Frederick J. Bueche; page 222 7. http://www.physics.mun.ca/~cdeacon/labs/simonfraser.pdf 8. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pend.html 9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration_due_to_gravity 0. http://geophysics.ou.edu/solid_earth/notes/potential/igf.htm 1. http://www.gorissen.info/Pierre/maps/googleMapLocationv4.php 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_time Where direct quotation is made from a source, the source number is shown in superscript after the preceding italicised quote, e.g. 'quote' 4 . The compound pendulum is defined as: 'a rigid body of any shape and internal structure which is free to turn about a fixed horizontal axis, the only external forces being those due to gravity and the reaction of the axis on the body' 3. In this investigation a wooden
An Investigation into the effect of caffeine on reaction times
An investigation into the effect of caffeine on reaction times and short term memory Aim To investigate the effect of varying doses of caffeine on performance in simple reaction time and short term memory tests. Research and Rationale Having carried out the core practical on the effect of caffeine on the heart rate of Daphnia, I wanted to investigate the effect of caffeine on other functions of the body, and how this effect comes about. Caffeine is a natural pesticide, found in the leaves, beans and fruit of over 60 plants1, however in humans it acts as a central nervous system stimulant, reducing fatigue and restoring alertness2. It is said to be the most widely used drug in the world, with an average intake of 241mg per person, per day according to a Bristol survey3. I therefore decided to explore how it could affect reaction times and the extent of short term memory, as these are two factors involved in alertness. It has a similar structure to adenosine, meaning it binds to adenosine receptors in the brain. Caffeine and adenosine - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Caffeine_and_adenosine.svg - 22.10.08 When a nerve impulse travels through the synaptic knob, opening the Ca2+ channels, it triggers the release of adenosine, which is synthesised and stored inside the synaptic knob. Normally, the adenosine acts as a neurotransmitter when it is released into the
Investigating the effect of enzyme concentration on the activity of cellulase.
Individual Investigation Investigating the effect of enzyme concentration on the activity of cellulase Plan Hypothesis The concentration of cellulase will affect the rate of break down of cellulose to sugar. Prediction As the concentration of cellulase increases the rate of break down of cellulose to sugar will also increase. If the cellulase concentration doubles then the rate of break down of cellulose to sugar will also double. Biological Knowledge Cellulase is an enzyme that breaks down the cellulose in the plant cell wall into soluble glucose, cellobiase and higher glucose polymers. Cellulose (insoluble in water) Glucose (soluble in water) Together with the enzyme pectinase, cellulase is involved in the ripening of fruit. It causes the degradation of plant cell walls making the fruit soft. Enzymes have the following characteristic: * They are all proteins * They are catalysts found in living tissues * Each enzyme is able to promote only one type of chemical reaction * They accelerate chemical reactions but remain unchanged at the end of a reaction * They reduce the level of activation energy needed for a reaction * They work in an optimum temperature range and pH The lock and key mechanism is the theory behind enzyme action. The enzyme has a cavity with a precise shape called the active site. The substrate (the key), the compound that the enzyme
Sand Dune Succession Coursework
Sand Dune Succession Coursework Aim: The aim of this experiment is to discover how the pH value and the humus value of soil samples collected along a 600 metre transect change as we travel away from the shoreline. The results will indicate how succession has an affect upon the soil and the environment. Also the plant species number will be recorded and a trend will be drawn from the results of percentage cover. Background Summary: Succession is a gradual directional change in an ecosystem over time. A good example of primary succession can be seen on coastal sand dunes such as Winterton sand dunes. Here many stages of succession can be seen in one place. Primary succession is when the starting point is bare ground with no living things present. In this case the starting point is bare sand. The first species to colonise bare ground like this are called pioneer plants. These are able to survive in very difficult conditions and are more salt tolerant than other plants. The sand has very few nutrients and is also unstable. The pioneer plants, examples are sea rocket and sea holly, must be tolerant of salt pray and have xeromorphic features which aid survival in an area with a lack of fresh water in the fast-drying sand. Over many years the environmental conditions become more suitable for a wider range of plants to live. As the number of species increases, competition
"An investigation into the Respiration of Carbohydrate Substrates by Yeast."
AS Biology Coursework 2004. Lucy Nuttney "An investigation into the Respiration of Carbohydrate Substrates by Yeast." Abstract. The investigation considered the reactivity of respiration of three different carbohydrate substrates; glucose, sucrose and starch, by two different sub-species of saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. The rate of reaction was measured by collecting volumes of gas in a displacement reaction at standardised conditions e.g. time, temperature, pressure, volume of yeast/ sugar. Results showed that glucose produced the most carbon dioxide, followed by sucrose then starch, the biggest difference being between sucrose and starch. Baker's yeast had a slightly higher average than brewer's yeast but it was not considered to be a significant difference and therefore could have been due to chance. It was concluded that both yeasts respire glucose and sucrose at insignificantly different rates but the difference between starch is much larger and therefore much more significant. Pilot Experiment. Before we could test which carbohydrate and type of yeast produced more carbon dioxide, we had to standardise the other variables of this experiment; temperature and concentration. Therefore, in order to find the optimum conditions we carried out a pilot experiment. In this experiment we used a range of temperatures from 10° to 60°C and
Measurement of protein solutions concentrations by biuret protein assay
Title: Measurement of protein solutions concentrations by biuret protein assay Objective: To study the principle a protein assay. To determine the absorbance rate of protein at different concentration by using spectrophotometer. To determine the concentration of unknown sample from the graph. Introduction: Protein quantitation is often necessary before processing protein samples for isolation, separation and analysis by chromatographic, electrophoresis and immunochemical techniques. Depending on the accuracy required and the amount and purity of the protein available, different methods are appropriate for determining protein concentration. Instead, several colorimetric, reagent-based protein assay techniques have been developed that are used by nearly every laboratory involved in protein research. Protein is added to the reagent, producing a colour change in proportion to the amount added. Proteins concentration is determined by reference to a standard curve consisting of known concentrations of a purified reference protein. Most pure protein solutions containing 1 mg/mL of protein have an absorbance of about 1.0 when the light path is 1 cm. This method is simple, rapid, and allows for full recovery of the protein. However, many other biochemicals absorb near this wavelength, making an accurate quantitation difficult. Furthermore, different
