Evidence of Work
The driving question and objective for our final project of the 2017-2018 STEM year is, how can we use and solve a world problem using an application of biotechnology. For our world problem we choose Global Warming. I know, a very tough and broad problem. But I believe we have a solution. Our solution is that we would genetically modify chloroplasts to act as trees. So there would be less deforestation meaning less carbon into the air which would lead to a healthier planet.
Presentation
Stage 1
Stage 1.5
Stage 2
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Stage 4
Stage 5
Content
Deforestation: The action of clearing a wide area of trees. In our project deforestation was one of the major problems we were trying to solve with our artificial chloroplasts. This is what we focused our project on, we want to terminate the use of deforestation in our earth.
Global Warming: a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. In our project Global warming was one of the major problems we were trying to solve with our artificial chloroplasts. Global warming is caused by excess CO2 in the atmosphere trapping heat onto Earth. Our chloroplasts limit the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. with global warming
Chloroplasts: (In green plant cells) a plastid that contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place. Chloroplasts were the inspiration in our design for this project. We modeled our artificial chloroplast after real chloroplasts with the same function and hopefully end result. This was the base of our project we use chloroplasts to act as trees.
Photosynthesis: the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct. The chloroplasts in plants help real green plants conduct photosynthesis. We hope that with our model of artificial chloroplasts we can help take carbon out of the atmosphere and produce oxygen which also happens in photosynthesis. This is involved with our chloroplast becasuse this normally
Lumen: The site of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. The Lumen in our model of a chloroplast are the solar panels that take in light and powers a chain reaction that takes in CO2 and excretes oxygen.
Stroma: Stroma, in botany, refers to the colorless fluid surrounding the grana within the chloroplast. The stroma in our artificial chloroplast is the first stage inside the model where water and Anode separate the CO2 from the O2 before they travel separate ways.
Carbon Dioxide: A colorless, odorless gas produced by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. It is naturally present in air (about 0.03 percent) and is absorbed by plants in photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide is what we are trying to limit in our project. Our plan is create enough artificial chloroplasts so that eventually they can combine to take out 1% of the Earth's CO2 annually. This is what our chloroplats take in.
Ozone layer: A layer in the earth's stratosphere at an altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 km) containing a high concentration of ozone, which absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth from the sun. Carbon dioxide along with greenhouse gases deteriorate and destroy holes in the ozone layer of the atmosphere. This causes another problem because it allows harmful ultraviolet light into our atmosphere. This is another reason why carbon dioxide needs to be taken out of the atmosphere.
Renewable energy: Energy from a source that is not depleted when used, such as wind or solar power. Renewable energy sources are the key to the future and our artificial chloroplast are just another option of renewable energy that makes it more accessible and cheaper for people to acquire.
ATP: ATP is a high-energy molecule found in every cell. Its job is to store and supply the cell with needed energy. ATP is supplied in our model by the solar energy that is needed to run the chloroplast. This energy is also released in our model at the end of each cycle.
Heat: The earth heats a a very constant rate
Global Warming: a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants. In our project Global warming was one of the major problems we were trying to solve with our artificial chloroplasts. Global warming is caused by excess CO2 in the atmosphere trapping heat onto Earth. Our chloroplasts limit the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. with global warming
Chloroplasts: (In green plant cells) a plastid that contains chlorophyll and in which photosynthesis takes place. Chloroplasts were the inspiration in our design for this project. We modeled our artificial chloroplast after real chloroplasts with the same function and hopefully end result. This was the base of our project we use chloroplasts to act as trees.
Photosynthesis: the process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water. Photosynthesis in plants generally involves the green pigment chlorophyll and generates oxygen as a byproduct. The chloroplasts in plants help real green plants conduct photosynthesis. We hope that with our model of artificial chloroplasts we can help take carbon out of the atmosphere and produce oxygen which also happens in photosynthesis. This is involved with our chloroplast becasuse this normally
Lumen: The site of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis. The Lumen in our model of a chloroplast are the solar panels that take in light and powers a chain reaction that takes in CO2 and excretes oxygen.
Stroma: Stroma, in botany, refers to the colorless fluid surrounding the grana within the chloroplast. The stroma in our artificial chloroplast is the first stage inside the model where water and Anode separate the CO2 from the O2 before they travel separate ways.
Carbon Dioxide: A colorless, odorless gas produced by burning carbon and organic compounds and by respiration. It is naturally present in air (about 0.03 percent) and is absorbed by plants in photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide is what we are trying to limit in our project. Our plan is create enough artificial chloroplasts so that eventually they can combine to take out 1% of the Earth's CO2 annually. This is what our chloroplats take in.
Ozone layer: A layer in the earth's stratosphere at an altitude of about 6.2 miles (10 km) containing a high concentration of ozone, which absorbs most of the ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth from the sun. Carbon dioxide along with greenhouse gases deteriorate and destroy holes in the ozone layer of the atmosphere. This causes another problem because it allows harmful ultraviolet light into our atmosphere. This is another reason why carbon dioxide needs to be taken out of the atmosphere.
Renewable energy: Energy from a source that is not depleted when used, such as wind or solar power. Renewable energy sources are the key to the future and our artificial chloroplast are just another option of renewable energy that makes it more accessible and cheaper for people to acquire.
ATP: ATP is a high-energy molecule found in every cell. Its job is to store and supply the cell with needed energy. ATP is supplied in our model by the solar energy that is needed to run the chloroplast. This energy is also released in our model at the end of each cycle.
Heat: The earth heats a a very constant rate
Conclusion
There was two main positives that struck me during this project. The first positive is that the brain storming process went very well. This came into play in the beginning stages when we were thinking on what to do. We all sat down and thought hard about what should we do for our world problem.We thought for a while about we wanted to do and we brainstormed. I feel that that is why our project was so good. We thought long and hard about what we should do and it turned out well. Another positive is the research process went very well. We researched our problem very well and thorough. We happened to do a lot of research on, global warming and all the possible solutions. We even went as far as to research a mentor who has helped with the problem of global warming I also believe that by researching well, it made our presentation very good. Because we did have a lot of our research in our presentation.
Although this project went very well, there is still room for improvement. One negative part of our project was our time management, we got a great start but started to fall off in the end. Sometimes we would just come in and play Mario the whole time. That is not the way to go at all. That made for a stressful finish. Another negative in this project was that we had trouble deciding what problem to solve. Due to the many world problems we have. We had some disagreements on what world problems to attempt to solve for. This project was very fun and turned out well in the end.
Although this project went very well, there is still room for improvement. One negative part of our project was our time management, we got a great start but started to fall off in the end. Sometimes we would just come in and play Mario the whole time. That is not the way to go at all. That made for a stressful finish. Another negative in this project was that we had trouble deciding what problem to solve. Due to the many world problems we have. We had some disagreements on what world problems to attempt to solve for. This project was very fun and turned out well in the end.