Table Of Content

diy Science Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments All Lab, No Lecture First Edition Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson BEIJING • CAMBRIDGE • FARNHAM • KÖLN • SEBASTOPOL • TOKYO Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments All Lab, No Lecture by Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson Copyright © 2012 Robert Bruce Thompson and Barbara Fritchman Thompson. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. Published by Make:Books, an imprint of Maker Media, a division of O’Reilly Media, Inc. 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472. O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: 800-998-9938 or To Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882), the towering genius whose theory of evolution is the foundation of modern biology. Contents Preface .............................................................................................................................................xi 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Using this Book with Your Curriculum .................................................................................2 Planning and Scheduling ......................................................................................................3 Work Areas.............................................................................................................................3 Maintaining a Laboratory Notebook ...................................................................................4 2 Equipping a Home Biology Laboratory ...................................................................... 9 Microscopes and Accessories ............................................................................................ 10 Microscope Accessories .....................................................................................................24 Culturing Equipment and Supplies ....................................................................................33 Histology Equipment and Supplies ...................................................................................37 General Laboratory Equipment ........................................................................................ 40 Major Equipment .................................................................................................................42 Prepared Slides ...................................................................................................................45 Specimens ...........................................................................................................................46 3 Laboratory Safety ...................................................................................................... 49 Lab I-1 Using a Microscope .................................................................................................... 53 Equipment and Materials ...................................................................................................53 Background .........................................................................................................................53 Procedure I-1-1: A Microscope Tour ....................................................................................55 Build a Darkfield Apparatus from Pocket Change ............................................................59 Review Questions ................................................................................................................ 61 Lab I-2 Mounting Specimens ................................................................................................. 63 Equipment and Materials ...................................................................................................63 Background .........................................................................................................................64 Procedure I-2-1: Making Wet Mounts ................................................................................64 Procedure I-2-2: Making Smear Mounts ...........................................................................66 Procedure I-2-3: Making Hanging Drop Mounts ...............................................................67 Procedure I-2-4: Making Sectional Mounts ......................................................................68 Review Questions ................................................................................................................69 Lab I-3 Staining ........................................................................................................................ 71 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................... 71 Background .........................................................................................................................72 Procedure I-3-1: Simple Staining .......................................................................................72 Procedure I-3-2: Gram Staining ......................................................................................... 74 Review Questions ................................................................................................................76 Lab II-1 Building and Observing Microcosms ........................................................................79 Equipment and Materials ...................................................................................................79 Background ........................................................................................................................ 80 Procedure II-1-1: Gathering Materials ................................................................................82 Procedure II-1-2: Building Aquarium Microcosms ............................................................83 Procedure II-1-3: Building Winogradsky Column Microcosms ........................................83 Procedure II-1-4: Observing Winogradsky Column Microcosms .....................................84 Review Questions ................................................................................................................85 Lab II-2 Observing Succession in Aquarium Microcosms ....................................................87 Equipment and Materials ...................................................................................................87 Background .........................................................................................................................88 Procedure II-2-1: Observe Succession in Microcosms .....................................................88 Review Questions ............................................................................................................... 90 Lab II-3 Observing the Effects of Pollution in Microcosms ................................................ 93 Equipment and Materials ...................................................................................................93 Background .........................................................................................................................94 Procedure II-3-1: Build Polluted Microcosms ....................................................................94 Procedure II-3-2: Observe Succession in Polluted Microcosms .....................................95 Review Questions ................................................................................................................96 Lab III-1 Acids, Bases, and Buffers .......................................................................................... 99 Equipment and Materials ...................................................................................................99 Background .......................................................................................................................100 Procedure III-1-1: Percentage and Molar Concentrations ..............................................100 Procedure III-1-2: Effect of Concentration on pH ...........................................................103 Procedure III-1-3: pH of Household Materials .................................................................105 Procedure III-1-4: Buffers ..................................................................................................105 Review Questions .............................................................................................................. 107 Lab III-2 Carbohydrates and Lipids ....................................................................................... 109 Equipment and Materials .................................................................................................109 Background ....................................................................................................................... 110 Procedure III-2-1: Investigating Sugars ............................................................................112 Procedure III-2-2: Investigating Starches ........................................................................114 Procedure III-2-3: Investigating Lipids..............................................................................115 Review Questions ...............................................................................................................116 Lab III-3 Proteins, Enzymes, and Vitamins ............................................................................ 119 Equipment and Materials ..................................................................................................119 Background .......................................................................................................................120 Procedure III-3-1: Investigating Proteins ......................................................................... 122 Procedure III-3-2: Investigating Enzyme Catalysis ......................................................... 124 Procedure III-3-3: Assaying Vitamin C Concentration in Urine ..................................... 126 Review Questions .............................................................................................................. 128 Lab III-4 Coacervates ............................................................................................................... 131 Equipment and Materials ..................................................................................................131 Background ....................................................................................................................... 132 Procedure III-4-1: Prepare and Observe a Coacervate ................................................... 132 Review Questions .............................................................................................................. 134 Lab III-5 Extracting, Isolating, and Visualizing DNA ............................................................. 137 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 137 Background ....................................................................................................................... 138 Procedure III-5-1: Extracting and Visualizing DNA.......................................................... 138 Review Questions ..............................................................................................................140 Lab III-6 Build a Gel Electrophoresis Apparatus ...................................................................143 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 143 Background ....................................................................................................................... 143 Procedure III-6-1: Making the Gel Casting Container and Comb .................................. 145 Procedure III-6-2: Assemble the Apparatus ................................................................... 147 Lab III-7 Simulated DNA Separation by Gel Electrophoresis ..............................................149 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 149 Background .......................................................................................................................150 Procedure III-7-1: Prepare Running Buffer ........................................................................151 Procedure III-7-2: Prepare and Cast the Gel ................................................................... 152 Procedure III-7-3: Load and Run the Dye Specimens ..................................................... 153 Review Questions .............................................................................................................. 154 Lab IV-1 Chlorophyll and Photosynthesis ............................................................................. 157 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 157 Background ....................................................................................................................... 158 Procedure IV-1-1: Observing Carbon Dioxide Uptake ..................................................... 158 Procedure IV-1-2: Determining the Effect of Light Intensity on Photosynthesis ......... 159 Procedure IV-1-3: Chromatography of Plant Pigments and Locating Cellular Energy Reserves ................................................................................................................160 Review Questions .............................................................................................................. 163 Lab IV-2 Investigating Osmosis .............................................................................................. 167 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 167 Background ....................................................................................................................... 167 Procedure IV-2-1: Observing Osmosis in Chicken Eggs ................................................. 168 Review Questions .............................................................................................................. 170 Lab IV-3 Investigating Cell Division ........................................................................................ 173 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 173 Background ....................................................................................................................... 173 Procedure IV-3-1: Observing Mitosis ............................................................................... 179 Review Questions ...............................................................................................................181 Lab V-1 Sampling Plant Populations in a Community ........................................................185 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 185 Background ....................................................................................................................... 185 Procedure V-1-1: Choosing and Preparing the Survey Area ...........................................186 Procedure V-1-2: Surveying the Plant Community ......................................................... 187 Procedure V-1-3: Performing a Population Count ........................................................... 189 Review Questions ...............................................................................................................191 Lab V-2 Observing the Effect of Rhizobia on Plant Growth ...............................................193 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 193 Background .......................................................................................................................194 Procedure V-2-1: Grow Lima Beans With and Without Rhizobia ................................... 195 Review Questions .............................................................................................................. 197 Lab V-3 Air Pollution Testing ..................................................................................................199 Equipment and Materials .................................................................................................199 Background ...................................................................................................................... 200 Procedure V-3-1: Building Particle Traps .........................................................................201 Procedure V-3-2: Positioning and Exposing the Particle Traps .....................................201 Procedure V-3-3: Counting and Identifying Particles .................................................... 202 Review Questions ............................................................................................................. 203 Lab V-4 Soil and Water Pollution Testing ............................................................................205 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................ 205 Background ...................................................................................................................... 206 Procedure V-4-1: Obtaining Soil and Water Specimens .................................................207 Procedure V-4-2: Testing the Reagents ...........................................................................207 Procedure V-4-3: Making Boron Concentration Comparison Standards .................... 208 Procedure V-4-4: Testing Specimens for Boron ............................................................ 209 Review Questions ..............................................................................................................210 Lab VI-1 Exploring Mendelian Genetics .................................................................................213 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 213 Background ....................................................................................................................... 213 Procedure VI-1-1: Testing Subjects for the Ability to Taste PTC ..................................... 215 Procedure VI-1-2: Charting Inheritance of PTC-Tasting Ability ...................................... 215 Review Questions .............................................................................................................. 215 Lab VII-1 Observing Specialized Eukaryotic Cells ................................................................. 217 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................. 217 Background ....................................................................................................................... 217 Procedure VII-1-1: Observing Onion Epidermal and Elodea Leaf Cells .......................... 218 Procedure VII-1-2: Comparing and Contrasting Eukaryotic Cells ................................ 220 Review Questions ............................................................................................................. 220 Lab VII-2 Preparing Culturing Media ...................................................................................... 223 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................ 223 Background ...................................................................................................................... 224 Procedure VII-2-1: Preparing Normal Saline and Nutrient Media .................................227 Review Questions ............................................................................................................. 229 Lab VII-3 Culturing Bacteria .................................................................................................... 233 Equipment and Materials ................................................................................................ 233 Background ...................................................................................................................... 234 Procedure VII-3-1: Staining and Observing the Original Culture .................................. 235 Procedure VII-3-2: Inoculating Plates and Tubes ...........................................................237 Procedure VII-3-3: Producing Pure Cultures ................................................................. 238 Review Questions ............................................................................................................. 239