9/19 Biology Update and homework due 9/26

Hi folks,

Today we spent some time looking a bit deeper at the seven characteristics of life and the hierarchy of organization.  We also spent some time doing a lab looking at the solubility of water vs. salt.

For homework this week I want you to do a lab write-up for today's lab.  I've included a lab template below to give you some guidance.

For the graphing section, do a very simple bar graph representing the amount of salt dissolved in water vs. rubbing alcohol (AKA, isopropyl alcohol.  Turns out it's slightly different than ethanol.) 

Also, in the conclusion section of the lab report, I'd like you to put forth an argument  as to why the water was so much better than the alcohol at dissolving salt (hint: polar).  Be sure to do some research on the internet to back up your argument and to provide actual numbers for the solubility of salt in water vs. salt in rubbing alcohol.  

On last thing,  there's a bit of extra work here compared to a normal homework assignment so I'm going to grade this one according to merit.  8 pts, if you just follow the template and finish it off, 10 pts. if you give your conclusion some thought and do a nice thorough method section and 15 points if you really knock it out of the park with a detailed method section, detailed data and graph, and some really nice research for the conclusion.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

Best,

Jim Mueller

(919) 907-3217