Organic Molecules are the chemicals of life produced by living organisms. They contain carbon and hydrogen linked together in long chains, with carbon as the backbone. Three focal organic molecules are carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids. All living organisms need these organic molecules to survive. Carbohydrates are utilized for transporting and storing energy in animals and plants. The number of sugar molecules present determines the prefix for the carbohydrate. A monosaccharide is the simplest sugar, which includes single sugar molecules such as fructose and glucose. Proteins are the most versatile of the organic molecules. They are polymers composed of monomers called amino acids. Protein is primarily responsible for the …show more content…
Protein supplements come in a variety with varying of protein and carbohydrate sources. The sources of protein include casein, whey, and soy. The carbohydrate sources vary by the sweetener and starch used. We were given the nutrition information for three protein supplements. Our task was to determine the concentrations of protein, starch, and simple sugars and quantify our data and qualify our observations. The protein supplements we were given contained varying amounts of sugar and protein. Supplement #1 contained 30 grams of protein and 3 grams of sugar. Supplement #2 contained 20 grams of protein and 2 grams of sugar, and Supplement #3 contained 21 grams of protein and 70 grams of sugar. From this, our group inferred that the lower the protein content of a supplement, the higher the sugar content would be and vice …show more content…
Two milliliters of each supplement were added into a small beaker according to the measurements from the previous lab on qualitative measurements. A 1:10 Dilution was made by using 18 milliliters of distilled water so that the final volume in each beaker was 20 milliliters. The solutions were mixed by gently shaking each test tube. The test tubes were then placed in a centrifuge at 3000 RPM for 2 minutes before acquiring the absorbance values. The spectrophotometer was turned on using the power switch on the back of the machine. Once warm, the machine was set to (A) absorbance at a wavelength of 565 nm for the protein readings. The test tubes were wiped with a kimwipe in order to remove fingerprints. Then “blank” test tube was inserted into the spectrophotometer first. After inserting all of the protein samples into the machine and recording all the absorbencies, the wavelength changed to 580 nm for the starch readings. The starch solution was removed from the centrifuge, wiped with a kimwipe, and tested in the