1.05 When in Rome: Science as a Process

Time to Reflect

Great job! You have completed an activity that was pretty short and not too complicated. You have retraced your steps to places you have probably been before and you have also been reminded of how we go about the business of solving problems and answering questions.

Putting It Into Practice

Now it is time to put your knowledge of the Scientific Method to use.

Have you ever had a scrape, from a fall, and someone put hydrogen peroxide on it? It fizzes up right? Did you ever wonder why? The reason is that there are enzymes in your skin that react with the hydrogen peroxide and break it down into water and oxygen gas (the bubbles). Hydrogen peroxide also reacts with light. That is why it is stored in a brown bottle. But, your skin does it much faster. The fizz helps to clean out the dirt and germs from your scrape. (Note: It is not a good idea to put hydrogen peroxide on a deep cut!)

Learn more about enzymes.

With this information in hand, here is your chance to be the lab scientist.

Background Information:

Other organisms, like plants, have enzymes in them that will also breakdown hydrogen peroxide. Your task is to test some typical foods in your fridge to see which ones have the enzymes to break down the hydrogen peroxide into water and hydrogen gas. If the food has the enzyme you will see the fizz.

Remember this important idea in any good lab:

All the parts of the lab need to be identical except the one thing you are testing. In this activity the variety, the variables, will be the different types of food; all the other factors must be the same. That means you must keep the size, or amount, of the food pieces, the temperature of the foods, and the amount of hydrogen peroxide the same.

Here is the plan:

Below is a copy of the lab report for this lesson. Save this lab report into a file on your computer. You will need to fill in the areas in red. Get ready! You are about to do some real science.
(You will submit this lab report for assessment 1.05)

1. Open, save (as an .rtf), and print the Lab Form. (Help Saving Files) You will see this format in other labs along the way.
2. Complete the activity as directed on the Lab Form.
3. You will submit your lab form as the assessment for this activity.
4. When you complete this lab, come back to this page.

Tour Debrief

To complete this lesson make sure you have:

• an understanding of science as a process and a copy of the Scientific Method information sheet in your notebook
• viewed the video clips on the Scientific Method and the controlled experiment and have notes on both video clips in your notebook
• checked your understanding of the Scientific Method and the experimental method by completing the self checks
• completed the lab activity and are ready to submit your Lab Form