Rachelle Danya M.

Dela Rosa September 21, 2017

Grade 12 - Cassiopeia

BIOLOGY RESEARCH

1. All laundry detergent ingredients have a job to do, but the one group that's really crucial to
getting your clothes clean are surfactants. The word surfactant stems from the combination of
words "surface-active agents." Surface-active agents get their name from their unique chemical
structure, which allows them to interact with two different types of surfaces, such as oil and
water. The tail of a surfactant molecule is hydrophobic, or not attracted to water. What the
hydrophobic end is attracted to is grease and dirt. The head of the surfactant molecule, on the
other hand, is hydrophilic - it's attracted to water.
So, when a greasy piece of clothing is immersed in water with
detergents containing surfactant, the tail of the surfactant
molecules attaches to the grease, and the head end of the molecule
is attracted to the water. When the washing machine agitates the clothes,
the molecules form tiny spheres, which stay suspended in the water
and are rinsed away when the water is drained. Therefore, the
prime benefit of surfactants is their ability to draw grime
out of clothing while making sure it doesn't return to the
fabrics.

2. Even with today's climate, if ice sunk to the ocean bottom (where it is colder, and summer
warmth is harder to get). Such ice would not melt for millennia, creating perma-ice (similar to
permafrost). Life would be possible only in shallow layer of water between perma-ice and surface.
This layer would be very cold, cooled from the bottom by perma-ice.
As a result, oil fields would not form, or if formed, they would be between layers of perma-ice.
Same with other geological forms created from sediments of sea bottoms, like chalk, limestone,
sandstone. These will be mixed with perma-ice. Possibly limestone would never form, because
pressure to created it would heat and melt ice layers.
Such ice frozen under pressure transforms to hexagonal columns. Very pretty. Columns can be
separated intact - ice shatters on impact into hexagonal columns.
After compressed in bigger depth, or uplifted by geological processes above sea level, ice would
melt and layer above would collapse. Would create very different geology on such planet.
Interesting effects on such planet:
No tsunami after earthquake, because liquid ocean is shallow.
 More volcanoes, because more water (perma-ice) would be subducted in subduction zones
in continental drift.
Frequent smaller tsunami, when mixed layers of ice and sediment crack.
Bigger changes in weather between summer and winter, because temperature stabilizing
effect of oceans would be substantially decreased (less volume of water).
Interesting effects with near-ocean volcanoes like Hawaii and Iceland. Or underwater
volcanoes, melting perma-ice and messing up geologic layers, creating more tsunamis.
Warm ocean currents would melt underwater canyons in perma-ice. Would have
interesting effects on oceans, especially as continental drift would move such canyons.
such canyons in perma-ice would have surprising ways to focus tsunami. After thinking
about it, tsunamis on such planet would be frequent and more localized, more focused,
because energy of tsunami would dissipate less (wave would travel down the canyon with
little decrease in devastating power or dispersion).
These canyons would have similar effect like bends in river delta: instead of sediments,
layers of ice higher than the "banks" of "canyons" would be deposited by tsunamis, and
quickly frozen, creating "walls" between polders where water in summer would be fresh
melt (little salt), but darker bottom because of sediments. Those polders would
be freshwater lakes on perma-ice (not on dry land).
Liquid parts of oceans would by much saltier because salt "freezes out" from ice.
It is quite possible that in some areas closer to poles, salt would centralize in few areas,
creating very salty lakes (which would not freeze even in winter, warming them up because
of accumulation of glaciers in Arctic (2 miles thick above sea level like Antarctic), sea
level in tropical areas would be much lower (some 100-300 meter less) because all that
water would be solid in thick polar glaciers. Glaciers would extend much farther from
poles, and climate would be colder (more sun energy would be reflected back to space).
ice reflects more sun energy than water, positive feedback). Effect in Arctic Ocean would
be perma-ice all the way to the surface, even way above sea level in tropics, with
occasional very salty lakes high in the perma-ice/glacier mountains. So perma-ice would
be like solid land, supporting glaciers and salt lakes (with possibly addition of layers of
dust brought by winds).

3. The handle of the pan would be hotter than the water because waters absorbs heat slower
than the handle. Water is a one-of-a-kind substance for many reasons. An obvious one is its
unique ability to absorb heat. Water is able to absorb heat - without increasing much in
temperature - better than many substances. This is because for water to increase in temperature,
water molecules must be made to move faster within the water; this requires breaking hydrogen
bonds, and the breaking of hydrogen bonds absorbs heat.

4. Chemistry is the study of matter, its properties, how and why substances combine or
separate to form other substances, and how substances interact with energy. Chemistry is involved
in everything we do, from growing and cooking food to cleaning our homes and bodies to
launching a space shuttle. Chemistry is one of the physical sciences that help us to describe and
explain our world. It is because so many of the important biological functions such as
photosynthesis, respiration and digestion are chemicals in nature. As a result, biologists should
have a good understanding of chemistry. All living things are made of chemistry. As are non-living
things. Chemistry, or the study of chemical elements, is the basis for pretty much all of the physical
world. Everything is made of chemicals.

5. Because water can absorb and transfer heat well, the human body uses it to regulate
temperature. Water has a relatively high heat capacity, meaning it can absorb a lot of heat before
its temperature rises. This trait allows the water in every cell of the human body to act as a buffer
against sudden temperature changes. Blood, which is made largely of water, moves heat away
from the extremities when it needs to conserve heat and towards the skin surface to release excess
heat, and transports muscle heat away as needed. Water also helps expel excess heat from the body
as water vapor from the lungs and sweat on the skin.
Also, through sweating, water prevents overheating when the outside temperature is very high (1).
Sweating is our main mechanism for thermoregulation: in fact, the evaporation of sweat entails a
loss of calories in the form of heat (2). This released energy enables a decrease of our internal
temperature, which, without this mechanism, would rise during hot weather and fever. To maintain
stable temperature, it is necessary to sweat and particularly, to allow sweat to evaporate!