Immune System

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Immune System:

Function:
The function of the Immune System is to fight bad bacteria, viruses, diseases, chemicals, etc. that end up in the body.

Organs:

     The organs associated with the Immune System are the leukocytes which fight off foreign bacteria in your body, the spleen which filters out blood and helps fight off bacteria and viruses, lymph nodes and tonsils which filter out harmful bacteria and waste in your body (these are found in many places in your body), the bone marrow which produces the leukocytes, and the thymus which teaches the leukocytes how to do their job.

Interactions w/ other Systems:

     The Immune System works with the Integumentary System (skin) because the Integumentary System is the first line of defense when met with a pathogen. The skin blocks off harmful pathogens so the Immune System doesn't have to deal with it. The Immune System is also part of the Lymph System; they are basically one system. The Lymph System removes cell waste and the Immune System removes pathogens.

Analogy:

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Explanation: 

     The analogy for the Immune System is an airport baggage scanner. The function of an airport baggage scanner is to scan people's bags and search for (potentially) harmful items such as water bottles, harmful food/liquids, and weapons to ensure that the airplane flight and the people in the airplane are safe. The Immune Systems job is similar. The function of the Immune System is to wipe out any harmful substances or pathogens that are inside the body. This is to ensure that the organism isn't harmed by any pathogens or substances that may do so.

Structure and Function:

      The organ that I chose for this section was the lymphatic vessels. These organs are tiny tubes that carry lymphs produced by lymph nodes. It is similar to the veins and arteries in the Circulatory System. The lymphatic vessels have tiny open holes which allow lymphs to escape into the body. This allows it to do its function because the lymphs go to the body´s cells to collect their waste, then go back to the lymphatic vessels. These vessels also have valves inside of them, which act as a gate. These valves are there to prevent reverse or irregular flow.

Sources:

"The Immune System - in More Detail." The Immune System - in More Detail. NobelPrize.org, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. <http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/immunity/immune-detail.html>.

Nemours. "Your Immune System." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. The Nemours Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. <http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/immune.html>.

"Lymph Node." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Aug. 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymph_node>.

Immune System - BrainPOP. Perf. Tim and Moby. BrainPOP. BrainPOP, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. <https://www.brainpop.com/health/bodysystems/immunesystem/>.

Lymphatic System - BrainPOp. Perf. Tim and Moby. BrainPOP. BrainPOP, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. <https://www.brainpop.com/health/bodysystems/lymphaticsystem/>.

Mitosis (10/10 - 10/13)

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Summary:

      Cell replication, or also known as Mitosis, is a process in where one cell replicates itself to make another copy of itself. Mitosis is used for things such as healing. When you have a wound, your body closes it off by replicating cells and covering up the wound. There are 6 stages of Mitosis: Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase, Telophase, and Cytokinesis. The first phase- the interphase, is where the cell grows to its mature and proper size and makes sure that it has the right amount of organelles. The cell also makes a copy of its DNA and Centrioles. The next step is the metaphase. In the metaphase, the nucleus replicates itself and the centrioles go to opposite sides of the cell and create spindle fibers which go across the cell. The spindle fibers stretch and pull therefore having all chromosomes line up at the equator of the cell, each being attached to a spindle fiber. The next phase is the anaphase. In the anaphase, the centrioles pull, splitting the chromosomes into chromatids and pulling them to opposite ends of the cell. Once that is done, the Telophase happens. In the telophase, the centrioles pull away from each other until the cell is nearly split. For each newly replicated cell a nucleus is created. The final step of Mitosis is cytokinesis where the cells pinch inward dividing the cytoplasm into two. The DNA is also replicated in this step.

SP6 - Constructing Explanations:

     This week I evaluated information to explain each process of the Cell Cycle/Mitosis. I also explained how mitosis works through a flip-book. In the flip-book it showed the 6 stages of the Cell Cycle animated (kind of). It showed what happened in each step and how each step leads up to the cell eventually splitting into two. Prior to making the flip book, I did some research about Mitosis using Gizmo to simulate cell division. One part of my research I illustrated each step of cell division, explained what happened in each step, This infornation helped me out when making the flip book later on.

XCC - Stability and Change:

       One system I've noticed was the Cell Cycle. This system occurs normally when the body is physically injured. Once the body is injured, cells split themselves into two and duplicate them selves to cover up the wound. When the wound is fully healed, cells will stop duplicating. This is one of the systems I identified this week. This system is usually stable for everybody. However, it can go unstable. The Cell Cycle is usually monitored and is controlled. butut if it not controlled, the cells will duplicate at a fast rate without ever stopping. This causes many diseases including cancer and is deadly to those who have it. 

The Osmosis Experiment (10/3 - 10/7)

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Summary: 

     Osmosis is the movement of cells from a lower concentration to a higher concentration. For example, if you put an egg into a certain liquid, the egg will grow or shrink depending on the solute-solvent ratio on the outside the egg and inside the egg. If the egg has more solutes in the inside than in the outside, the water or liquid will go in the egg to make the solute-solvent ratio equal to the outside. If the egg has less solutes in the inside than the outside, the water inside the egg will go out of it to make the solvent-solute ratio equal. If the solvents in the inside of the egg is equal to the solvents on the outside, nothing will happen since they are already equal. Another thing kind of related to osmosis is mitosis, which is the splitting of cells. When you get injured, how does your body heal itself? Mitosis is the answer to that. In an injury, cells split and create more of themselves to fill in the cut/injury. If the splitting malfunctions, it non-stop rapidly grows into the body and causes what is known as cancer.

SP3 - Conducting Investigations:

    This week, I conducted investigations when I first identified the question : Is a skinned egg soaking in Gatorade a Hypertonic, Hypotonic, or Isotonic solution. Then my team and I created the hypothesis that the answer to my question was a hypotonic solution where the Gatorade goes inside the egg and the egg gets bigger. After that, we identified the variables. The manipulated variable was the liquid we were soaking the egg in, which was the Gatorade. The responding variable was the size of the egg. The controlled variable is the jar since nothing would happen to it since it is holding everything. After my team and I gathered all this information, we started on the experiment. We first recorded the initial weight of the egg and recorded it. We then put it in a jar and filled the jar with Gatorade. In the past 24 hours, the egg got bigger, just as we predicted.

XCC - Cause and Effect:

      A Cause and Effect relationship I noticed with the Egg Experiment was why the egg got bigger. The reason the egg got bigger was because it had more solutes (salt, sugar, etc.) inside. The Gatorade, however, had only about 30 calories inside it which meant that it had not a lot of solutes. When we put the Gatorade and the Egg inside the jar, the Gatorade went inside the egg to equalize the amount of solvents inside of it. This makes sense because if you add more of a solvent that has very little solutes in it to an egg with more solutes but very little solvents, the solvent-solute ratio will dilute in the poured in solvent. This is how the egg got bigger after being put in the Gatorade.

Respiration, Photosynthesis, Diffusion and Osmosis - (9/26 -9/30)

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Summary:

      Diffusion is the movement of particles moving from a high concentration to a low concentration. For example, if you drop a drop of food coloring into water, the food coloring will stay in one place shortly. That place currently has a high concentration of food coloring. But as time goes by, the food coloring will move around and dissolve in the water until everywhere in the water has an equal amount of food coloring in it. Osmosis is the kind of the opposite of diffusion. Osmosis is when particles move from a low concentration to a high concentration. For example, imagine that you have a bag. That bag is filled with water and a little bit of salt. If you put that bag into a jar of water that has a lot of salt in it, the salt from the bag will move out of the bag into the jar with more salt. The bag with a lower concentration of particles move into a higher concentration of that particle. The opposite happens when there is less salt in the outside and more salt in the inside. 

 

SP6 - Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions: 

     This week, I mostly explained things such as the photosynthesis cycle instead of designing solutions. I explained how photosynthesis and respiration work together to function through creating a fold able of the two processes. One half of the fold able said the name of the process, the important information about it such as the function, organelle the process happens in, and the formulas for the products and reactants. Another thing that was added in the fold able was an illustration which explained what starts the process, what the outcome is of the processes, and how both processes work together. I also filled out a worksheet explaining the outcomes of scenarios using Osmosis and Diffusion, such as "If you put a bag of 97% water and 3% salt into a Beaker with 90% water and 10% salt, where will the water move?". I explained how osmosis and diffusion play roles in scenarios such as the example. 

 

XCC - Scale, Proportion, Quantity:

     One thing I noticed this week was that Diffusion and Osmosis depend on the quantity of the concentrations of the solvents and solutes and the size of the item that is hosting the solvents and solutes. Think back to that food coloring and water example in the summary. In that case, the food coloring dissolved until it was equally spread around the jar of water. If it was tried in real life, you could see that after the food coloring was dissolved in the jar of water, the water turned into the color of the food coloring dropped in. Now instead of having a jar of water, what if you added a drop of food coloring into a lake? The food coloring would still be equally spread across the water, but the lake would not even change color because each water molecule holds a very small amount of food coloring. What I am saying here is that the scale of the host (anything that holds the water) determines how much of the solute is spread around each water molecule. The same goes for osmosis. If the cell or the water around it is bigger, it affects which direction the water goes.