Beet Lab Report

The beet Lab experiment was tested to examine bio-membranes and the amount of betacyanin extracted from the beets. The betacyanin is a reddish color because it transmits wavelengths in red color and absorbs most other colors. The membrane is composed of a phospholipid bilayer with proteins embedded in it. The phospholipid bilayer forms a barrier that is impermeable to many substances like large hydrophilic molecules. The cells of beets are red and have large vacuoles that play a big role for the reddish pigment. This experiment aimed to answer the question, “How do cell membranes work?” The hypothesis we aim to test is: Cell membranes work as a fluid mosaic bilayer of phospholipids with many embedded proteins. We predicted that the 50% Acetone will break down the most betacyanin. Our hypothesis was proven wrong by our data collected. We could test our predictions by doing the experiment multiple times and compare the

results to each others.

Materials and Methods
In this lab, we examined the properties of bio membranes. We used a “Spec 20” to measure the amount of betacyanin in the solutions. The Spec 20 reports two types of measurements which are percent transmittance and absorbance. We cut the beet cores using a metal rod, rinsed them in the sink to eliminate human error, placed them in the freezer, and water bath multiple times. The beet cores were cut into small pieces, so that one piece can be dropped into a small test tube that had different solvents in each tube. Also, they were cut the same size, so the data would be as accurate as possible. We worked as a team and had two group members working with the solvents and two others working with the temperatures. The cell membranes were messed with by using hot and cold temperatures to look at the differences of betacyanin extracted. The different temperatures were -20C, 4C, 37, and 22C. The solvents were 1% Acetone, Saline, 50% Acetone, 50% Methanol and 1% Methanol. The test tubes put into the freezer sat there for 20 minutes and the other test tubes were put into the hot bath for another 20 minutes.
Results
We predicted that the 50% Methanol would break down the most betacyanin in the beet. In our results, the most absorbed was from the 50% Methanol. The least absorbed was the 11% Acetone. The table below shows our results.
11% Acetone 0.089
50% Acetone 0.145
1% Methanol 0.235
50% Methanol 0.370
Saline 0.170

The other experiment we tested was putting the test tubes in the freezer for 20 minutes.

The least absorbed was the 4 Celsius with only 0.040 absorbed. The most absorbed was -20 Celsius with 0.219 absorbed.

Treatments Absorbance

-20 C 0.219

4 C 0.040

22 C 0.080

37 C 0.125

The mean for the temperatures is 0.116 and the solvents is 20. We predicted the 37 Celsius would be the most absorbed, but it was the -20 Celsius which can be seen in the graph above.

Discussion

The data we gathered was tested to be as accurate as possible. Our prediction on the solvents did not support our data that we collected. The cause of this could be due to human error when washing the beets or the cutting of the beets. The beets were not perfectly cut the same size, so some beet pieces were bigger than others which can affect the final the final result. We followed each step and followed the time limits cautiously. I can say if we were to redo the experiment our results would be similar because we would attempt to do the experiment as close as we did the first

time.