Extra Credit for Friday, June 17th: "Oncology: Making cancer glow away: How to track down tiny tumours: Jan 4th 2011"

Oncology
Making cancer glow away
How to track down tiny tumours
Jan 4th 2011

Dr. Norman Maitland of the Yorkshire Cancer Research Laboratory, in Harrogate, England, has recognized the issue that although when small cancerous tumors are small and easy to deal with, they are extremely difficult to detect; once they are large enough to be detected, they have often already spread to other tissues of the body and caused critical, deadly effects. Maitland used the glowing crystal jelly proteins from the 2008 Nobel prize winning extraction to program viruses such as stripped-down versions of HIV and an insect virus to produce crystal-jelly proteins. The viruses were programmed to produce this jelly when the team spliced a prostate-specific control sequence into their genetic material. The viruses were programmed to attach to and infect the tumors, in order to make them easier to see. Although when the team exposed tissue samples containing prostate cancer cells, the viruses successfully infected them and new cancer cells, the proteins glowed brightly, unfortunately, the proteins glowed green. The green light's frequency was too high to travel through human tissues and therefore, could not be seen outside of the human body. The team that won the Nobel prize for chemistry, however, provided Dr. Maitland and his team with a version of the protein that emits red light. Even so, the tumors illuminated by the red light were difficult to see without an extremely expensive specially developed camera that scans the body slice by slice. This "glow" technique may be available for clinical trials in five years. By then, the price of these $750,000 cameras may have declined. Given the necessary materials to successfully conduct the technique, early detection of cancerous tumors will be much easier to achieve and treat.

http://www.economist.com/node/17843620

Unit 1A Vocabulary List

purity: clean, free from impurities

filtrate: the liquid collected after it has been filtered (through sand/gravel filtration).

adsorb: to attract and hold onto a surface.

percent recovery: percent of original foul water sample recovered as purified water.

purified water: water that has been cleaned through a process of filtration/purification. The final step of purification is distillation.

histogram: shows percent recovery obtained (by all laboratory groups in the class).

range: the difference between the largest and smallest values in a data set.

average/mean: average value found by adding all values together and dividing the sum by the total number of values.

median: middle value

distillation: the process of separating salt from water through evaporation and condensation in a distillation apparatus.

electrical conductivity: focuses on the presence of dissolved, electrically charged particles in water. (Light bulb test).

Tyndall Effect: the clarity of a water sample tested by passing a beam of light through each sample. Presence or absence of the Tyndall Effect. Is the beam of light present all the way through the beaker or just on the edges?

pure: clean, purified.

water cycle/hydrologic cycle: the cycle of water falling, evaporating into the air, condensing, and falling again.

direct water use: water that can be directly measured.

indirect water use: hidden uses of water.

gaseous state: water vapor in the air.

liquid state: in lakes, rivers, oceans, clouds, and rain.

solid state: ice.

surface water: a river or other body of water.

groundwater: a well- must be pumped to the surface.

aquifer: a water-bearing layer of rock, sand, or gravel.

Tuesday, June 14th Homework Assignment for Wednesday, June 15th.

ISAS, page 23:

3) The following are three water uses associated with your foul-water laboratory investigation (page 10). Classify each as either a direct or an indirect water use. Explain your answer.

a. Manufacture of the filter paper: indirect water use. The materials needed to make the filter paper, the cooling and running of machinery, and transportation of the filter paper all involve the use of water. Since we do not directly measure this water or recognize filter paper as a product linked to water, the manufacturing of the filter paper is an indirect water use.
b. Premoistening of the sand and gravel: direct water use. Since we must moisten the sand and gravel ourselves and directly measure how much water we add to the cup of sand and gravel, this is a direct water use.
c. Use of water to cool the distillation apparatus: direct water use. Again, since a measurement of water is directly put into the distillation apparatus, this is an example of a direct water use.

4) What does it mean to "purify" water?

To "purify" water is to use various procedures to remove excess materials, such as dirt and other impurities, to produce a "clean", or clear, filtrate. The final state of purification is reached once the clear filtrate is distilled. Even so, distilled water can contain dissolved gases from the atmosphere.

5) Identify at least three techniques for purifying water.

Three techniques for purifying water are oil-water separation, sand filtration, and charcoal adsorption and filtration.

6) What was removed from your foul-water sample in each step of that investigation?

In the first step of the investigation, oil-water separation, oil was removed from my dark brown foul-water sample. In the second step of the investigation, sand filtration, visible solids, such as coffee grounds, was removed from my sample, and the color of the sample became dark yellow. In the third step of the investigation, charcoal adsorption and filtration, all color, most odor, and all (visible) excess sand particles were removed from my foul-water sample.

7) The procedure used in the foul-water laboratory investigation could not convert seawater to water suitable for drinking.
a. Explain why not.
b. What additional purification steps would be needed to make seawater suitable for drinking?

a. Although the procedure used in the foul-water laboratory investigation managed to remove all visible dirt, most odor, and all color from the foul-water sample, by testing electrical conductivity, we discovered that sodium still remained in the water.
b. In order to make seawater suitable for drinking, it would be necessary to separate the salt from the water through distillation. By doing this final purification step, seawater would be fit to drink, but it would not taste very good due to the lack of minerals that are put into water to enhance flavor.

A.8. Page 22:

1) List three water uses that you could do without.

Washing cars, watering the lawn, washing the floors.

2) Identify one activity that you could not do without.

Bathing (assuming the household has just one tub of water--not a large water supply for a shower)

3) For which tasks could you reduce your water use? How?

Shower- by taking quick showers or turning the shower off while applying soap to the body or shampoo to the hair, one could significantly decrease their water use.

4) Impurities added by using water for one particular use may not prevent its reuse for other purposes. For example, you might decide to save hand-washing water and use it later to bathe your dog.
a. For which activities could you use such impure water?
b. From which prior uses could this water be taken?

a. You could use such impure water for washing cars.
b. This water could be taken from saving the water used to wash windows.

The Periodic Table

Each element listed on the periodic table includes the atomic number of the element, the element symbol, and the atomic mass.

The atomic number shows how many protons are present in the atom, the element symbol indicates a certain element, and the atomic mass represents the average mass of one atom of the element's atomic mass units. Each atom has a different number of neurons, so isotopes are the different possible versions of each elements depending on the number of neurons each atom has. The presence of different isotopes is the reason why the atomic mass represents the average mass of one atom of the element's atomic mass units.
The periodic table is grouped into several columns. Columns that go from up to down are groups; elements in a group have an equal number of electrons in their outer orbital. Elements in the same column are very similar and part of the same family. Additionally, the elements that are in the same family have similar reactive qualities. The categories of elements included in the periodic table are: Alkali Metals, Alkaline Earth Metals, Inner Transition Metals, Lanthanides, Actinides, Transition Metals, Post-Transition metals, Metalloids, and Nonmetals, such as Halogens and Noble Gases.
The atomic number color shows if an element is a solid, liquid, gas, or unknown.
Rows, or periods, go from left to right. The elements in the same period have the same number of atomic orbitals.
Because elements of the same groups possess similar qualities, and elements of the same rows possess similar qualities, the Periodic Table's order is organized in a very natural way.

Foul Water Lab Report

Abstract:
The purpose of the foul water lab experiment is to clean up a sample of foul water and hopefully purify it enough to be suitable for hand-washing. The procedure of cleaning the water includes three parts; first, oil-water separation. Oil-water separation is the process of using a Beral pipet to remove the top layer of the foul water sample; the thick layer of oil. By the end of this process, my group, Team Metal, had removed almost all oil. The second part of the process is Sand Filtration. Sand filtration is executed by poking small holes into the bottom of a (styrofoam) cup. Then, one must fill the cup with sand and gravel and pour the oil-free soiled water sample into the cup, allowing it to pass through the sand and gravel filter. The filtrate is released from the small holes into a beaker. After this step, my group's filtrate was very dark yellow in color, and did not have enough sand particles to make re-filtering necessary. The third part of the process is charcoal adsorption and filtration. In this step, one must place folded filter paper into a funnel with a beaker underneath. A clay triangle and a ring stand holds these materials in place. After mixing the filtrate with a semi-fine and then ultra-fine charcoal, it is poured into the funnel, and gradually drips filtrate into the beaker. This was the last step, and by the end of this step, our filtrate was completely clear and free from all visible matter such as sand and oil.

Procedure:
First, we were given 100mL of foul water, that stunk of garbage, waste, and coffee, from Dr. Forman. After the sample sat in the graduated cylinder for about a minute, we noticed that the a thick layer of what looked like oil had settled atop the very murky water. By this time, we were able to begin the oil-water separation. We used a Beral pipet to remove as much of the top layer as possible, and placed it into a dry test tube.

In order to be sure the substance we removed was oil, and not just impure water, we added several drops of distilled water to the liquid inside the test tube. Because the liquid we removed from the dirty sample remained on top of the water, we were sure that the substance we removed was oil-- oil is less dance than water, and therefore, floats on top of it. After we separated the oil from the water, and then discarded it, the foul water sample measured 80mL-- it lost 20mL of oil.

We were then able to begin the sand filtration process. First, we used a paperclip to poke small holes in the bottom of a styrofoam cup. Then, we added a layer of gravel, a layer of sand, and then another layer of gravel to the cup, in order to keep the sand from churning when it came time to add the water sample to the cup. Once we moistened the cup with distilled water, we were ready to our our sample through the cup and into a beaker we placed beneath it.

Once the sample was filtered through the sand and gravel, it was no longer murky and brown, or had the large chunks of dirt present at the bottom of the graduated cylinder. The dirt was trapped in the gravel and sand.

Although he filtrate still stunk, it was very dark yellow in color, like dehydrated urine, and actually looked like a liquid substance. This filtrate measured 72mL; the foul water sample lost 8mL.

Finally, we were ready for the final step; charcoal adsorption and filtration. For this last procedure, first, we mixed our filtrate with semi-fine charcoal in a 200mL Erlenmeyer flask.

Then, we added ultra-fine charcoal to the flask and mixed it in as well.

In order to proceed with this process, we placed a glass funnel in the clay triangle and put a beaker on the ring stand beneath it. We folded filter paper, placed it in a glass funnel, and slightly moistened it so it stuck to the sides of the funnel. Finally, we poured our water sample (that was now mixed with charcoal) into the filter paper lined funnel.

Very clear filtrate gradually dripped from the funnel into the beaker, as the charcoal remind stuck to the walls of the filter paper.

Our final product was 69mL, and although it looked like clean water, it still possessed the odor of garbage and coffee, but it was not nearly as strong as our beginning sample.

Final Results:

Data Analysis:
My lab group recovered 69% of our original foul water sample as purified water; this was our percent recovery. We lost 31mL of liquid, or 31% of our original foul-water sample.

Histogram: This shows the percent recovery obtained by all the laboratory groups in the class.

The largest percent recovery obtained was 70%. The smallest percent recovery obtained was 54%. This means the range of the percent recovery data is 16%.

The average percent recovery for my class is 64.5%

The median value of the percent recovery data is 65.5%

Post Lab:
Electrical conductivity is the way to test whether or not water contains salt. Since salt is a conductor, if an electrical current is present when the water is placed under a light bulb, it will light up. If this occurs, in order to purify the water to make it suitable for hand washing, it is necessary to distill the water.

Distillation was our final step in purifying water in order to make it clean enough for hand-washing. Distillation is the process of separating salt from water. Dr. Forman demonstrated the process of distillation for the class. First, he placed water into the larger round flask of the distillation train. Then, he heated water at 99.1°. Because water has a lower boiling point than salt, the water evaporated into the upper tube of the train. It then condensed in the upper, bar-like compartment and fell into the smaller round flask on the other side. Since the salt did not evaporate due to the insufficient measurement of heat it needed to boil, the salt remained in the larger round flask, separated from the newly distilled water in the smaller round flask.

The presence or absence of the Tyndall Effect: In order to test if there were particles inside water, Dr. Forman shone a light (lazer pointer) horizontally, through both murky, and distilled water. Since the beam of light shone all the way through the murky water, we could confirm that the water was not totally pure and needed to be distilled. On the other hand, when the lazer pointer was shone horizontally through distilled water, light was only visible at the edges of the glass beaker. From this, we could confirm that the water lacked salt and dirt particles and was completely pure.
Murky Water:

Monday, June 13th Homework Assignment for Tuesday, June 14th.

Early Opinion: From Page 7: Water supply and purity. Which is more critical?

I believe that water supply is significantly more critical than water purity. Because all water can be purified through filtration techniques to some extent, it is extremely important to have water to filter. Although filtration does not completely purify water, some minerals found in water are actually essential in small amounts. I recognize that it is necessary to have clean water, but I am also aware that foul water can be made able to drink; therefore, possessing partially clean water to drink is better than having none at all.

ISAS, pages 23-24:

1) Assume that Jimmy Hendricks drank just packaged fruit juice during the water shortage. Does that mean he did not use any water? Explain.

Although Jimmy Hendricks did not use direct water sources such as the kitchen sink as his source of drinkable water, by only drinking packaged fruit juice during the water shortage, he indirectly used much more water than what can be perceived. An indirect water source is a hidden use of water. The amount of water used to make the container, irrigate the fruit trees, and transport the juice is extremely larger than simply filling a glass up with tap water.

2) List at least three indirect uses of water associated with producing a loaf of bread.

1) The water used to grow the wheat (irrigation).
2) The water used to make the containers of the ingredients.
3) The amount of water used to raise a cow, which creates milk, which is then processed into butter.

8) Has the world’s total water changed in the past 100 years? The past 1 million years? Explain.

Although water changes state, and can become a gas, a solid, or a liquid, the amount of water in the world does not change. Water becomes a gas and evaporates into the air, falls again as a liquid or solid, and can freeze into ice. This is all part of the hydrologic cycle, and the world’s total water does not change.

9) Rank the following locations in order of greatest to least total water abundance on Earth: rivers, oceans, glaciers, water vapor.

Oceans, glaciers, water vapor, rivers.

10) Consider this quotation: “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” Describe a situation in which this would be true.

Even though islands are completely surrounded by water, if a person was stranded on a deserted island, they would not have any water to drink. Since the ocean is composed of salt water, it is not suitable to drink from.

11) Look at Figure 1.12 on page 16. What percent of water is used in irrigation and agriculture in your U.S. region?

77% of water is used in irrigation and agriculture (in the west).

12) Look at Figure 1.15 on page 18. Fresh water makes up 2.8% of Earth’s water supply. Calculate the percent of fresh water found in
a. glaciers and ice caps.
b. lakes.

a. Glaciers and ice caps: 2.11%
b. Lakes: 0.009%

13) Explain why it might be possible that a molecule of water that you drank today was once swallowed by a dinosaur.

Due to the water cycle, or the hydrologic cycle, when a dinosaur excreted urine after drinking a molecule of water, the liquid evaporated into the air, and eventually fell as a new form of water. This cycle has been repeating endlessly, so it is possible that a molecule of water that I drank today was once swallowed by a dinosaur.

17) Each person in the United States uses an average of 370 L of water daily. Other sources, however, report that U.S. per capita water use is 4960 L. If both values are correct, explain this apparent discrepancy.

If both of these values are correct, perhaps 370 L represents the amount of water a person directly uses daily, and 4960 L represents the amount of water a person both directly and indirectly uses daily.

A.5, page 17:

1) For each region in the United States, name the greatest single use of water.

a. the East: Steam/electric
b. the South: Steam/electric
c. the Midwest: Steam/electric
d. the West: Irrigation/agricultural
e. Alaska: Mining
f. Hawaii: Irrigation/agricultural

2) Explain the differences in how water is used in the East and the West. Think about where most people live and where most of the nation’s factories and farms are located. What other regional factors help explain the general patters of water use?

In the East, the economy revolves around business, factories, production, and real estate. Because of the lack of an agricultural economy, the largest percent of water use in the East is in steam and electric. On the other hand, most of the nations farms are located in the West. Therefore, the West relies on water to fuel the irrigation and agricultural economy.

3) List two factors about the weather, economy, or culture that could explain the greatest water use within each of these six U.S. regions.

As previously stated, the economy and culture of the east revolves around factories, real estate, business, and city life. Additionally, because it gets both very hot and very cold in the east, air conditioning and air heating is a large part of daily life. These factors explain why the greatest water use is in steam and electric. In the South, it also becomes very cold and very hot depending on the season, so the greatest water use is also in steam and electric due to the common use of air conditioning and heaters. This is also true for the Midwest. In the West, there is a large dependence on farming, so, as previously stated, the greatest water use is in irrigation and agriculture. Since it is very cold in Alaska, the greatest water use is in mining. Because Hawaii is an Island surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, the fertile lands that are frequently rained on depend on irrigation in order to produce good crops; therefore, the greatest water use within Hawaii is in irrigation and agriculture.

Welcome to my blog!

Hello, I'm Camilla.
Although it will be hard work, I am excited to begin the summer school chemistry course! I am eager to expand my knowledge in science and hopefully gain some great life lessons at the same time!
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