Wednesday, November 10, 2010

reflections over trimester 1

What I have learned this trimester-
This trimester I have been able to really comprehend the process of osmosis in relation to water diffusion. There are two types of solutions a hypertonic and a hypotonic solution. In the hypertonic solution there is less solute in the cell forcing the cell to want to balance out by pulling all of the water out of the cell and into the solution. In a hypotonic solution the cell would be considered a hypertonic cell because there is more solute in the cell then the solution forcing all the water into the cell making it swell and eventually burst. There is differences in a plant cells like the ideal state. in a plant the ideal state would be a hypotonic solution but in an animal cell it would be an isotonic solution.

What I have found difficult this trimester-
This trimester I have been struggling with meiosis and how mitosis is part of meiosis. I find it difficult to understand how any of the first phases would be different from when it does it again. I get that you have to end up with four haploid cells to make the sex cells but I guess I just don't get the process of getting there, and how it is different then normal reproduction of cells.

How do biological systems regulate?
Biological systems are constantly regulating themselves whether it is by regenerating new cells, or the process of transferring things through the phospholipid bilayer. Some times the cell is not able to regulate enough and a deformity might occur like in the reproduction of cells. If a cell is disrupted it could cause cancer cells to form whether benign or malignant.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Elianah! I completely understand where you're coming from and I think I might have an idea of the answer. The reason meiosis has two phases is because during each phase, a different process happens. For example, in Metaphase One, the tetrads(made up of the two homologous chromosomes which are made up of separate sister chromatids) line up in the middle of the spindle. After the whole process of Meiosis One(PMAT I) finishes, you're left with only two separate chromosomes. But the problem is that you actually need four. So, you go through the process again. In Meiosis Two (PMAT II) for example, the separated chromosomes consisting of two sister chromatids each line up in the middle of the spindle to separate the chromosomes further into their own chromosomes, finishing with four total. That's a lot to take in, I hope it helped!

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