B1.
2 – Using a Light Microscope
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX6mow1AExI
Introduction
The aim of this practical is to observe animal and plant cells under the microscope. The skills come from:
The preparation of the slides
The focussing of the microscope
Calculating sizes of microscopic structures using magnification calculations
Method
Preparing your slide
1. Collect a sample of the cell you want to observe.
2. Remove the inner skin of a layer of onion using forceps, or a thin
layer or Elodea or filamentous algae using the scalpel.
3. Place the thin slice onto a clean glass slide. Use your forceps to
keep the onion skin flat on the glass slide.
4. Using a pipette, add one or two drops of dilute iodine solution on
top of the onion skin or slice of algae or plant.
5. Hold the coverslip by its side and lay one edge of the cover slip onto the microscope slide near the
specimen.
6. Lower the cover slip slowly so that the liquid spreads out.
Setting up the Microscope
Before you can look at the cells on the slide, you will need to set up your microscope.
Most microscopes have a built-in light source
1. Move the stage to its lowest position.
2. Place a prepared slide on the centre of the stage and
fix it in place using the clips.
3. Select the objective lens with the lowest
magnification.
4. Look through the eyepiece and turn the coarse focus
adjustment until the cells on the slide come into view.
5. Turn the fine focus adjustment to sharpen the focus
so that the cells can be seen clearly.
6. If you wish to view the object at greater magnification
to see more detail, repeat the above steps using a
higher magnification lens.
How to calculate cell size
1. At a low magnification, place a transparent ruler across the microscope stage.
2. Measure the width of the field of view using the ruler markings.
3. Place the slide to be viewed into position. Increase the magnification until individual cells can be
viewed.
4. Calculate the new width of the field of view at this magnification, using the formula:
Original magnification
5. Field of view= x Original field of view
New magnification
6. Count the number of cells visible across the field of view.
7. Calculate the length of a single cell using the following formula:
Field of view
Length of cell=
Number of cells
B3.3 – Food Tests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akMLGbNA0gE
Introduction
The aim of this required practical is to test food for four specific nutrients – carbohydrates (both starch and
sugars), protein, and lipids.
Carbohydrates – Starch – IODINE TEST
Starch is a complex sugar as it is made of many glucose molecules in a chain. So it has a
specific test:
1. Grind up the food you’re testing to increase its surface area
2. Drop YELLOW-RED iodine solution onto the food being tested
3. If it turns BLUE-BLACK then starch is present
Carbohydrates – Sugars (e.g. glucose) – BENEDICT’S TEST
Glucose is an example simple sugar:
1. Grind up the food you’re testing to increase its surface area
2. Add BLUE Benedict’s solution onto the food being tested
3. Heat the solution
4. If it turns BRICK RED then sugar is present
Protein – BIURET’S TEST
1. Grind up the food you’re testing to increase its surface area
2. Add BLUE Biuret reagent to the food being tested
3. If it turns PURPLE then protein is present
Lipids – ETHANOL TEST
1. Grind up the food you’re testing to increase its surface area
2. Add CLEAR ethanol to the food being tested
3. If there is a CLOUDY WHITE layer formed then lipids are present
4. HAZARD: Ethanol is highly flammable and harmful
COMBINED HIGHER B3.6 – Investigating the Impact of pH on Amylase
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yqbu56ImXk
Key Words
Enzyme: A biological catalyst. Something which speeds up the rates of reaction, specifically helping the
breakdown of certain food nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein and lipids
pH: A measurement of how acidic or alkaline a chemical is
pH Buffer: This is a solution consisting of an acid or alkali
Introduction
Amylase is an enzyme which breaks down carbohydrates into simple sugars. It is produced in the mouth
from salivary glands. Like all enzymes, it has an optimal pH. This means if the pH is higher (more alkaline)
or lower (more acidic) than its optimal pH, then it won’t work as effectively.
This required practical investigates how different pH’s impact how effective amylase is at breaking down
starch, a carbohydrate, by testing how long it takes for the amylase enzyme fully breaks down the starch
into sugar.
Method
1. Take five different test tubes and half-fill
them with amylase
2. Add a range of pH buffers to each test tube
until the test tube is ¾ full (with pH’s ranging
from 1-14, e.g. pH 4, 6, 8, 10, 12)
a. E.g. to one test tube add pH 4 buffer,
to another add pH 6 buffer etc.
3. Finally, add starch solution to fill the test
tubes
4. Swirl gently to mix the solutions together
5. Immediately start the timer
6. Every 30 seconds, use a pipette to remove
some of the mixture from each of the five test tubes and place the five different solutions into a
spotting tile (pictured)
7. Add iodine solution to the drops made, if the drop turns from yellow-red to blue-black, then the
amylase has not worked yet (as starch is still present)
8. Repeat steps 6 & 7 until the iodine does not turn blue-black. This may happen faster for some of
the solutions than others
pH Time taken for solution to stay yellow-red (minutes)
Results – Below are an 12 33.7
Example Set of Results 10 26.8
8 4.2
6 19.3
4 54.1
Conclusion
The pH’s ranged from 4-12 and showed a difference in
results. As shown, the amylase broke down all the starch Time taken for solution to stay
into sugar fastest at pH 8 at 4.2 minutes followed by pH 6 Yellow-Red (minutes)
Time Taken to Break Down Starch
at 19.3 minutes, pH 10 at 26.8 minutes, pH 12 at 33.7
60
minutes, and pH 4 was last at 54.1 minutes.
50
40
In conclusion, amylase must work best at around pH 8 –
(mins)
30
in the next experiment we can use pH’s closer to pH 8, 20
including pH 7, pH 7.5, pH 8, and pH 8.5. 10
0
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
pH of Solution
B8.2 – The Rate of Photosynthesis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDbMae2gYXo
Introduction
When pondweed photosynthesises, it gives off oxygen bubbles. The rate of photosynthesis can be
monitored by counting the bubbles.
The light intensity can be decreased by moving a lamp further away from the pondweed.
A large beaker of water placed between the pondweed and the lamp can be used as a heat shield to stop
the pondweed being warmed by the lamp.
Method
1. Take some pondweed and place it in a boiling tube
2. Use the thermometer to measure the temperature of the water in the boiling tube, this is to monitor
the waters temperature and to make sure it doesn’t impact the experiment
3. Place the lamp 15cm away from
the boiling tube and place the
large beaker of water between the
lamp and the boiling tube
4. Wait until a steady flow of bubbles
from the end of the cut pondweed
starts to flow, and then count how
many bubbles are produced in two
minutes
5. Repeat steps 2-4 but changing the
distance the lamp is from the
pondweed
Results
As the graph shows, the number of bubbles produced by the pondweed decreases the further away from
the lamp it is.
This is because light is needed for photosynthesis, and the less light it receives the less photosynthesis it
can do.
Due to photosynthesis producing oxygen, the more photosynthesis it can perform the more oxygen bubbles
it will create.
B16.3 Distribution and Abundance
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcEUusP8ELU
Key Words
Distribution: The area a species can be found in
Abundance: The number of individuals in a species found in a habitat
Habitat: A place where organisms can live (e.g. a forest, a coral reef, or the arctic)
Quadrat: A piece of scientific equipment used to make an average estimation of the number of organisms
in a habitat
Introduction
Manually counting how many roses there are in a garden can be easy if the garden is small. However when
counting the number of flowers in Kew Gardens, manual counting would be far too difficult.
So scientists develop ways to measure how many organisms there are in a habitiat by making averages.
The following required practical outlines how to use a quadrat to make an average estimation of the
number of daisies in a field.
Method
1. Figure out which habitat you’re measuring and then find out its total
area
2. Carefully place your 1m2 quadrat randomly in the habitat, and record
how many daisies are in the quadrat
3. Do this many times at random places around the habitat, and then
make an average of the number of daisies in each quadrat
4. Multiply the average number of daisies in each quadrat by the number
of quadrats which can fit in the area
5. The number you get form step 4 is an estimate of how many daisies
are in the area
Results – Below are an Example Set of Results for a Habitat an area of 200m 2
Number of Daisies found in each 1m2 quadrat
14 1 20 63 23 42 11 9 17
We used 9 quadrats and above are the number of daisies found in each. The average number of daisies is
22.22 per 1m2 quadrat.
The total habitat area is 200m2 meaning that 22.22 x 200 = 4,444 daisies are in the field
Conclusion
This result is an estimate, and is useful as an efficient way to gain knowledge about the abundance and
distribution of organisms in an area.
However, the experiment has limitations, including:
Lack of accuracy
Scientist bias due to not effective random placement of the quadrats
Can only be done to slow moving animals or plants as other animals may crawl out of the quadrat
