Unit 2 Reflection

This unit was titled the Chemistry of Life. As one can probably tell from the title, the unit was about the basic chemistry necessary for learning biology. In this unit, we learned about the properties of water, different types of chemical bonds, and the four different macromolecules along with their uses and structures. Some labs we did include the sweetness lab, the enzyme virtual lab, and the cheese lab. The sweetness lab demonstrated the relationship between the structure of a carbohydrate and the taste. Both the cheese and enzyme virtual labs gave us an idea of the conditions in which enzymes work best. We were pretty successful with our sweetness lab and enzyme lab, but the cheese lab had quite a few setbacks. We had a pretty severe time restraint, so if the milk didn't curdle within 15 minutes, we had to call it a Did Not Curdle. Also, there was a lot of ambiguity surrounding what the word "curdle" actually meant. It was hard to tell how much curdling would actually count as "curdling" because of this ambiguity.
From this unit, I definitely learned a lot of content as well as skills. I learned, contrary to my previous intuition, that not all sugars are that sweet. Also, I had assumed in the past that since acids were good at breaking things down, enzymes would be most effective in an acidic environment. However, I was clearly wrong, and I now know that enzymes work best in a neutral pH and at room temperature. I also never knew that a pipette had markings for volume, but now that I do know this, I will put it to good use to make my measurements much more accurate in the future.
However, I still have many unanswered questions and more I want to learn about. Like for I example, I know that enzymes work best in a neutral pH and room temperature, but when it comes to curdling milk, how come they are more effective in a warm, acidic environment? Also, as we did do experiments regarding carbohydrates and proteins, I am still curious to see if we will work with lipids and nucleic acids, the two macromolecules that we haven't touched on much outside of the vodcasts. Sometimes, these experiments make me think about my own diet, and I still feel like there are many foods that don't fall into any of those categories. However, maybe as I learn more in the future, those burning questions will finally be answered.