The Bible, Anthropology, and the Ancient Caveman BY AUDRA WELLS MARK. THE DNA SCIENCE EXPERIMENT WAS TAKEN FROM THE NOVA EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM.

Science Lesson -- DNA  In The Bible, Anthropology, and the Ancient Caveman Curriculum, students learn about deoxyribonucleic acid also known as DNA. This PowerPoint presentation will give steps that can be taken on how students can actually see their own DNA.

Step One -- Materials  A clear cup  Spoon  Salt  Dishwashing liquid  Chilled isopropyl alcohol

Step Two --  Put safety glasses on.  Mix a half teaspoon of salt into a glass that is half full of water.  Take a mouthful of salt water and swish it in your mouth for a full minute.

Step Three --  Spit the saltwater back into the glass.  Now there are cells from your mouth in the glass.  Add one drop of saltwater into the mixture and stir slowly.  Don’t make suds.

Step Four --  Use and eye dropper to slowly drip the isopropyl alcohol down the side of the cup so that the alcohol sits on top of the mixture.  Make sure that you don’t stir the mixture.

Step Five  You will begin to see small white clumps and small white threads in the isopropyl layer of alcohol.  The white threads and the white clumps are actually your DNA.  The same process can be done with other living items like fruit to see the DNA in any living thing.

Explanation of the Chemical Breakdown  Our cell walls are broken down by dish soap.  When the cell walls are broken down the DNA is released as a twisty molecule.  The saltwater keeps the bits of DNA separate.  Alcohol makes the DNA clump together.  Each clump is comprised of thousands of strands of DNA.

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