IAL BIOLOGY UNIT 3

ALL EXPERIMENTS
1)Effect of Different mineral ions on
plants
 Independent variable: Mineral present
 Dependent variable: Physical characteristics of plant
Control

 Volume of mineral solution

 Species of plant
 Size of container
 Amount of light provided for the plants
Method

 Half fill 7 tubes, one tube with all the minerals present while the rest
lacking one specific mineral.
 Cover top tube with foil paraffin and push down on covering so that
there’s a well in the centre.
 Gently push a radish seed through hole so it is in solution below
 Wrap all tubes with aluminium foil and place in tube holder on sunny
window sill or in front of a light bulb for better accuracy
 Observe regularly
Outcome

 All nutrients present: Grow healthy

 Lack nitrogen: Old leaves turn yellow and die, grow stunted
 Lack phosphate: Dark green leaves with purple veins and grow
stunted
 Lack potassium: Yellow scorching leaves and stunted growth
 Lack magnesium: Yellow areas develop on old leaves and growth
slows down
 Lack calcium: Grow points die back and young leaves yellow and
cranky.
2)Effect of concentration of a
certain mineral on plant
 Independent variable: Concentration of the mineral being tested
e.g. Magnesium
 Dependent variable: Weight of plant
Control

 Concentration of all the other minerals that are not being measured
are kept the same
 Species of plant used
 Size of container used
 Amount of light provided
Method

 Prepare 7 tubes each containing different concentrations of the

measured mineral e.g. magnesium , also include a tube without the
mineral ion being measured
 Cover top of tube with foil paraffin and push down on covering so
that there’s well in centre
 Gently push plant seeds through hole so it is in solution below
 Wrap all tubes in aluminium foil and place in tube holder in front of a
light bulb
 Measure the change in mass of the tube and compare with each
other.
3) Effect of garlic and mint on
bacterial growth
 Independent variable: Presence of garlic/mint
 Dependent variable: Zone inhibition around disc
Control

 Concentration of plant material

 Lawn bacteria on petri dish
 Same volume of plant material on each disk
Method

 Make plant extract - crush 3g plant material with 10 cm3 industrial

denatured alcohol
 Shake for 10 mins
 Pipette 0.1 cm3 extract onto sterile paper discs
 Allow draw on sterile petri dish
 Meanwhile label agar plates with date and split into 3 sections
 2 for each type of plant extract and 1 for control with distilled water
on disc
 Place 1 disc of extract in each quadrant agar plate close and tape
 Leave for incubation at 25C and 1-3 days and observe and
measure the size of inhibition
4)Effect of caffeine on Daphnia
heart rate
 Independent variable: Caffeine concentration
 Dependent: Daphnia heart rate
Why is Daphnia used?

 Transparent
 Easily manipulated
 Easy to observe changes
 No dissection
Control

 Temperature
 Volume of solution
 Daphnia size
 Daphnia stress
 Acclimatization time
 Daphnia species
Method

 Remove daphnia and place in cavity slide with distilled water

 Leave for 5 mins to acclimatise, then observe, count heart beat
under microscope for 60s and calculate the beats/min
 Repeat with another daphnia to find mean beats/min
 Repeat again with different caffeine solution
 5 different concentration, three repeats in each concentration
5)Measuring the content of vitamin
C in fruit juice
 Independent variable: fruit juice
 Dependent variable: volume of juice decolourised/cm3 of DCPIP
Control

 Temperature
 Concentration of DCPIP Solution (%)
 Shake tube same number times
 Same end point number times
 Same end point colour (until blue colour just disappears)
Method

 Pipette 1cm3 blue DCPIP into test tube

 Using burette/ accurate pipette add different % of vitamin C
solution in to test tube drop by drop until the blue colour just
disappears
 This is used to make the calibration graph, Volume of Vitamin C
solution used against concentration of vitamin C solution
 Now, drop by drop add the sample containing an unknown
concentration of vitamin C, measure the volume required to make
the test tube turn from blue to colourless.
 Match the volume with the volume in the calibration graph
 IMPORTANT: BE AWARE WHICH SUBSTANCE IS BEING TITRATED, THE
DCPIP OR THE VITAMIN C
6) Totipotency and tissue culture
Method

 Sprinkle seeds on damp sponge and allow to germinate

 Use when seeds become sapling
 Make up agar gel into test tube
 With sharp scissors cut loops off below the shoot apex
 Push stem of explant into gel, cover with cling film and place an
sunny windowsill
 Observe over 10 days