SciHawks

AP Chem - we finished up Electrochem by discussing the driving of non-spontaneous cells via electrolysis i.e. electrolytic cells. These cells are used mostly for plating of precious metals onto cheaper metals at the cathode of the cell e.g. silver cations get reduced to silver on a cathode (spoon or fork, etc.) of tin. Also, these cells are used for reduction of active metals, which must immediately be put into an inert atmosphere of a noble gas or into an unreactive organic liquid like mineral oil.

We then began work on a part I AP exam, the rest of which is due for HW.

Bio - we discussed recombinant DNA technology, which is used in agriculture, medicine, and industry in order to get bacteria to produced proteins of a different organism. This is done by using restriction enzymes that cut DNA of the bacteria and of the other organism into fragments that have the same "sticky ends" of complementary bases; then, using enzymes to speed up the complementary pairing, the DNA fragments splice together to form a bigger plasmid that now also contains the DNA of the different organism. The plasmid is put into a living bacteria via mechanical, chemical, or viral VECTORS. Then, the DNA on the plasmid is replicated into each daughter cell that is produced asexually, and the DNA is transcribed and translated into the proteins that were coded for by the alleles of the other organism. Thus human insulin, spider web proteins, clotting factors, human growth hormone, or ANY protein coded for by ANY gene from ANY foreign organism can be produced by transgenic/recombinant DNA plasmid-containing bacteria.