Our Project
Our task in this project was to research a method in which our body maintains homeostasis. Homeostasis is defined as the ability or tendency to maintain internal stability in an organism to compensate for environmental changes. Basically in English it means keeping a calm stable environment in a living thing. Our group focused on the separate things that our body does to keep overall homeostasis. Our group was assigned blood pressure. We had the knowledge of how our bodies regulated it. It is regulated by the amount of adrenaline that is pumped into our blood stream. The lower the blood pressure is then the adrenal glands pump the adrenaline which contains salt. the level of blood pressure is based on the salt level. We knew this, but we wanted to test it for ourselves to see.
Our Procedure
- Pour hot water into 16 oz of Sapporo Ichiban chicken ramen
- Measure the tests subjects blood pressure before he/she eats the ramen
- Have your tests subjects eat all of the ramen and the water at the bottom
- Measure their blood pressure right after
- Measure the subjects blood pressure every minutes until 20 minutes have passed
- Write down results
- Repeat for each subject
Evidence of Work
Homeostasis: Homeostasis is the way by which the body maintains a stable environment. As I have stated before, homeostasis is important and necessary for bodily functions to take place, and it keeps chemical levels in our body level
Adrenaline: The hormone adrenaline is released by the adrenal glands. It is released into the bloodstream and serve as chemical mediators, and also are the nerve impulses to various organs. Adrenaline has many different actions depending on the type of cells it is acting upon. Basically the effect and purpose of adrenaline is to prepare the body for the ‘fight or flight’ response in times of stress, and to regulate the blood pressure. Noradrenaline: A synthesized form of dopamine. It is released from the adrenal medulla into the blood as a hormone, and is also a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and the nervous system where it is released from noradrenergic neurons. It is the opposite of adrenaline because it lowers the blood pressure when adrenaline lowers it. Adrenal gland: The adrenal gland is a gland part of the endocrine system. It is important as it creates hormones, including the ADH that is used in the process of homeostasis in relation to water levels. Feedback loops: Feedback loops are the loop of stimulus and the reaction. When something makes our body get out of homeostasis, our body reacts and does something to bring it back to homeostasis. we respond to stimuli in order to keep ourselves functioning correctly at all times. There are two types of feedback loops, a positive feedback loop and a negative feedback loop. In a positive feedback loop, the body responds to its environment by causing change to adapt to its surroundings. These changes help with responding to the stimulus in a wanted kind of way, making sure that no negative effects come out of the situation. A negative feedback loop does not cause change, and it tries to change it so that any sort of negative stimulus will go away. In our project, we tested how our body responds to high blood pressure. the stimulus was eating very salty ramen, and the reaction was high blood pressure. Even though our results didn't show anything, this was the expected loop. Scientific method: The scientific method is the way all scientific experiments are done. there are steps that are required to provide when doing an experiment. The order doesn't have to be followed. The steps are: 1. Ask a question 2. Research 3. Hypothesis 4.Do the experiment 5.Analyze Data/ Results 6. Communicate results |
Reflection
This project was a really fun project! I really liked learning about feedback loops and how we keep homeostasis. It was really interesting to me. As a group, me, Vinny Long, and Kiki Brabo worked really well together. The only hiccup we had was getting the research document. This was because Kiki went to Las Vegas 2 days before the project was due, and she said that she would do the abstract and the introduction. Vinny and I were waitng for her to get it done but she couldn't do it until she got back from Las Vegas. Ms. Matthews our teacher was very understanding because she gave us a little bit of extra time until Kiki had it done. Other than this the only downfall to this project was the results. Our data didn't show anything at all. It would have been a much better project if our results could have proven our hypothesis wrong or right. This project is fun and I would for sure do it again.