Colorimeter Readings Temperature Oc example essay topic

636 words
Aim: Investigate the effect of temperature change on the permeability of beetroot cell membranes Prediction: Assumption- At room temperature membrane is impermeable to anthocyanin. As Temperature increases, the permeability of the tonoplast and cell membrane of beetroot cells increases with leakage of anthocyanin from the vacuole. Apparatus: Beetroot Cork borer Stop-clock Scalpel Ruler Test tubes Colorimeter Colorimeter tubes Bunsen Burner Gauze Mat Mounted needle Method: 1) Cut cylinders of beetroot using cork borers. 2) Cut cylinders into discs 3 mm wide. 7 discs for each temperature you investigate (5 temps = 35 discs) 3) Wash all discs until no more pigment leaks from them. Results Table: Colorimeter Readings (Absorbance) Temperature / oc 1st Reading / Arbitrary units 2nd Reading / Arbitrary units 3rd Reading / Arbitrary units Average / Arbitrary units 23 oc 0.31 0.18 0.13 0.21 40 oc 0.32 0.19 0.18 0.23 50 oc 0.46 0.28 0.22 0.32 60 oc 0.88 0.99 0.53 0.80 70 oc 1.33 2 2 -N / A- Note: .

Arbitrary unit could not measure any value above 2. This value is given as 2... All results are given to two decimal places... First temperature was room temperature at that specific moment.

Statistical Analysis: Just to show that my opinion on the correlation is not purely subjective I will use a statistical method to prove that there is definitely positive correlation between temperature change and permeability of the beetroot cell membrane. Temperature / oc 1st Reading / Arbitrary units 2nd Reading / Arbitrary units 3rd Reading / Arbitrary units Average / Arbitrary units 23 oc 0.31 0.18 0.13 0.21 40 oc 0.32 0.19 0.18 0.23 50 oc 0.46 0.28 0.22 0.32 60 oc 0.88 0.99 0.53 0.80 70 oc 1.33 2 2 -N / A- As you can see ALL the data is in perfect order, all ranks move down from one to five giving a perfect 1 in terms of spearman rank statistical test to show that my subjective view was correct. There is a significant relationship between the temperature and absorbance reading on the colorimeter from the leakage of anthocyanin due to the increase of the permeability of the tonoplast and cell membrane of the beetroot cell. Evaluation of evidence: Most of the evidence is as expected but there are a couple of anomalous results. Firstly if look at A on graph 1, you will see the data plotted at exactly 2, unfortunately the colorimeter cannot read above 2 so there is no way of knowing how far or how close to 2 it is. Which affects C on graph 2 because there is no way of calculating an average for this so knowing where the actual point it should be is quite hard to tell.

Also if you look at point D on graph 1, although it still follows the trend the result is quite far below the other 2 results at the same temperature. This maybe due to the limitation 'Discs on top of each other' where the discs were unable to release maximum amounts of anthocyanin into the water. Overall the results supported my prediction and were reliable, some more than others, for example the results at 23 oc has a smaller range than the results at higher temperatures such as 60 oc and 70 oc. The repeats (data pooled from other groups) were close to ours and I am pleased with this experiment. I believe that I have approached this task critically and have taken both a subjective and objective view in this experiment. I am confident that my conclusions are valid and I would recommend this experiment to anyone who also wishes to see the connection between temperature and permeability of cell membranes.