Dedicated to our wonderful Block Science teachers Mrs. Rosell and Miss Jacobs.

Three lab partners were given the task to find out what caused six people at the same campground to die in the hot summer of 2007. All the people had similar symptoms, and we tested water under a microscope from the camp sight (stream, wells, and toilet water). We came to the conclusion that the contamination originated from the stream, and found the same contamination from waste in the south toilet. The "thing" that caused the contamination seemed to take the form of a small circle that can only be seen when examined under a microscope. The three lab partners must figure out whether these small circles are alive or not, and for their group specifically, if the small circles are made up of cells.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Background information on Cells

There are two main types of cells. They are called prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotes are cells that have no nucleus, and some examples are protists and bacteria. Eukaryotes are different because they do have a nucleus, and some examples of them are fungi, plants, and animals.

Hypothesis:

The small circles in the circle water are living, and are made up of cells.

Chapter 2:

Experiments

-Circle Water

-Pipette (water dropper)

-Congo Red

-Methylene Blue

-Compound light Microscope

-Wet-mount slide

-Coverslip

-Well

-Pencil

-Notebook

-Camera (phone)

Fats/lipid and Protein lab materials and Procedure:

After we gathered the materials, we took the circle water, put it on a slide, placed a coverslip over the droplet, and looked at it under a microscope. We then recorded what we observed (the circle water is our controlled variable because it remained the same throughout the experiment). We took 5-6 drops of the circle water and placed it into a well. Then we placed 1 drop of the Congo red in the same well, and mixed them together. We took 1-2 drops of the mixture and put it onto a wet-mount slide. We then placed a coverslip on top of the slide. After lowering the microscope to the lowest magnification, we placed the slide on the stage. We examined the mixture under the microscope and looked to see if there are some red parts. The congo red sticks to fats/lipids so if it was red we knew that there are fats/lipids in the circle water. After this we recorded what we observed and took pictures. We repeated everything with Methylene blue. Methylene blue sticks to proteins, so if parts of the circle water under the microscope turned blue, we knew the circle water had proteins. We then recorded what we saw in a notebook and took pictures. We then set aside the covered wells till the following day. We reexamined the mixtures under the microscope to see if there were any changes. Lastly, we recorded our observations.

Iodine Lab

Materials:

-Circle Water

-Pipette (water dropper)

-Iodine

-Well

-Compound light microscope

-Wet-mount slide

-Coverslip

-Pencil

-Notebook

Procedure:

Once we gathered our materials, we filled 3 wells 3/4 of the way up with circle water. The circle water is our controlled variable because it remains the same throughout the experiment. We placed 1 drop of iodine in each of the 3 wells. Iodine will stick to starches/carbohydrates. After, we waited to see if the iodine changes colors to black/brown (iodine's original color is yellow/orange). We then decided to look at the mixture under a microscope because the color change might not be noticeable without a closer look. We looked at all of the mixtures from the 3 wells and recorded what we observed. We then took pictures and set the covered wells aside to see if there would be a difference the following day. The next day we looked at the mixture under the microscope again and recorded the data.

When we mixed the congo red stain with the circle water and observed it under a microscope, we noticed that the red stain seemed to stick. A similar situation occurred when we added the methylene blue. We saw the blue under the microscope which shows that the stain stuck.

Chapter 3: Results

Fats/Lipid and Protein Lab Day 1

Control Variable:

Circle Water

Maginification: 100x

Observations: A few irregular figured things are scattered around the image; one larger thing is near the left of center

Congo Red mixed with circle water

Magnification: 100x

Observation: Small red like circles are linked in a large group; some are just around the area

Methylene Blue mixed with circle water

Magnification: 100x

Observation: Small blue strange figured things are around the area

Day 1 pictures

Fats/lipids and Protein Lab Day 2

After reexamining the Congo red mixture and the methylene blue mixture the following day we noticed that it had the same results. The only difference was the stain had more time to stick to any fats/lipids or proteins in the circle water. So the colors red and blue were more dominant when looking at it on day two. We were also able to get a closer look on the second day, with a higher magnification on the microscope. We saw little seed like things the color of red or blue (depending on the substance we mixed) in the circle water

Day 2 pictures- Part 1

Methylene Blue mixed with circle water

Magnification: 100x

Obsevations: Small blue like circles are linked into several small clumps; some are just around the area

Congo red mixed with circle water

Magnification: 100x

Observations: Small red like circles are linked in a large clump; some of them are just around the area