Macromolecules Lab Report

The objective of this macromolecules lab was to identify the presence any of the major macromolecules in various every day food items. The three macromolecules that this lab was carried out for were carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. There were five different experiments conducted and each of those experiments had one factor in common, they all had the same controls. The controls in this lab activity were already set for the lab activity. The controls were the distilled water and the baking soda solution. These controls were certainly crucial to the lab because they were the basis to what the results of each experiment should have been. Distilled water was an effective control because it is made of H2O molecules therefore it is impossible for it to contain any of the macromolecules. Baking soda is a control because it is made of
Firstly, there was a source of error when testing sucrose for a carbohydrate presence using Benedict's Regent. According to Dr. Hunt, the sucrose solution should have remained blue but instead the sucrose turned teal in colour. This could be a result of mixing different solutions by accident. Fortunately, this was a very minor issue which was unfortunately over looked. The next source of error happened while the Sudan IV test was being conducted. The unknown solution produced a precipitate when the Lugol's solution was added. This may have been due to the fact that the spot plate used had traces of other chemicals in it from the many labs it may have been used for. This could have resulted in the precipitate's formation. The final source of error also happened when testing for carbohydrates. The hot plate was not 80 degrees Celsius at all times as it was very difficult to keep it at a constant 80 degrees. This may have been due to the hot plate being faulty which could have resulted in the inconsistent heating it provided. These errors can be easily