Blog Post #6

I walked outside today to give my plants a visit.  I noticed how big they have grown.  I remember just starting our project in the beginning of the year and it was a tiny seed, now it is a full grown plant.  I just thought how amazing it was to see it grow.  I noticed when I did the garden clean up that there was some biomass around the plants.  I would cut the extra grass and leave it there, the biomass fumes are better for the environment because it is better than oils.  Because it is plant material used as fuel or an energy source.  I also saw that there was a lot of sunlight, cause we live in California, and then I thought OMG photosynthesis.  The sun created a chemical energy (sugar)  in plants.  I find it very interesting how photosynthesis and cellular respiration help each other.  During photosynthesis, the plant needs carbon dioxide and water, both of which are released into the air during respiration. And during respiration, the plant needs oxygen and glucose, which are both produced through photosynthesis.

 In the stroma of a chloroplast, the plant cell structure responsible for photosynthesis, is the enzyme rubisco, which makes up half of the soluble protein of most leaves.A cell makes enzymes through protein synthesis.  Protein synthesis can me made by transcription and translation. During transcription, the DNA of a gene serves as a template for complementary base-pairing, and an enzyme called RNA polymerase II catalyzes the formation of a pre mRNA molecule, which is then processed to form mature mRNA. The resulting mRNA is a single stranded copy of the gene, which next must be translated into a protein molecule. During translation, which is the second major step in gene expression, the mRNA is "red" according to the genetic code, which relates the DNA sequence to the amino acid sequence in proteins. Each group of three bases in mRNA constitutes a codon, and each codon specifies a particular amino acid . The mRNA sequence is thus used as a template to assemble in order the chain of amino acids that form a protein.

Blog Post #6

Blog post #5

I looked at all of the plants we did and i couldn't believe how much they grew.  I remember putting the seeds in the bag and thinking "how would this work", it just didn't seem normal to put seeds in a bag and watch them grow.  But I saw how much they grew and I was amazed!
 
She was also amazed at how much they grew.  She thought it wouldn't work at first, but it did. When we were doing the garden clean up we didn't know that those were the plants we grew until we saw the sign...she thought that they were like professional plants already grown, not the ones from the plastic bag.
-Alyssa Barron

Blog Post #4

Some abiotic factors that are plant needs to survive is sunlight, oxygen, and temperature.  I think the main abiotic factor is water though, because we are testing the plants with different types of water and their percentage of salt.  Some biotic factors that can affect our plant is bacteria and fungus.  Our seeds are competing with how much water they get because they only have limited water supply and they have to share it.  We can clearly see who won or who lost because if one seed is growing great and one is not growing good or is dead, then we can clearly see who won.  Our seeds can also fall under the category mutual-ism, because both organisms don't  loose anything when they are together.

Blog Post #3

       This week I noticed that the plants grew a little more.  The seeds with 0% salt are growing the most and are the biggest, and the seeds with 1% salt are in second place.  The seeds with 4% and 8% of salt are still very tiny and are not really growing.  During the nitrogen cycle, the bacteria turns into a gas, ammonia, that plants can use.  The ammonia turns into a nitrate ion and the plats take it in as protein.  Our plants are doing that because the ammonia is circling the plant right now.  The carbon cycle is the transformation of carbon back and fourth between living things and the environment.  Carbon is an element that can't be broken down, and our plants our giving out the carbon to the environment so we can breath.

Brief Bio of Samantha

My name is Samantha Polacek. I am from San Diego, CA. My parents retired from the military to move here. I have 4 siblings. My family grows green beans and potatoes. My grandpa knows a lot about farming because he has a farm. I personally don't know a lot about gardening because I have never really gardened.

My name is Jaeda Dillon. I live in San Jose, CA but I used to live in Missouri. I've grown carrots, beets and more in one of my science classes in 7th grade. My mom and grandma have their own garden and my grandma knows how to garden because she grew up on a farm.

My name is Lizette Martinez. I was born and raised  in San Jose,CA. My family has grown lemons, cucumbers, oranges, squash. But I don't have any experience with planting.

My name is Madelayne Quintero, but people call me Maddie. I was bor in San Jose, CA. I have 2 garden beds in my backyard with carrots, zucchini, and cucumbers. I also have a pretty big peach tree.