I did the science fair, ya. I extracted DNA from a banana. Look or forever wonder about what could have been! Yo! This is my blog, my dad said I could write anything except 1.Mean things about my siblings. 2.Mindless junk like the sky is blue, the grass is green, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!!! So, today I have decided to torture you, by telling you all I know about DeoxyriboNucleicAcid, or DNA!!!!!!! But first about the science fair. So, I go down to gym to do my thing. I go to plug in the extension cord, and I can’t find the outlet!!!!! Big whoops! I spend about 2 minutes looking, then the judge tries to help me find it, we ask a lady, it was behind us the whole time!
I’m not going to explain every detail, but here’s some of the unfortunate things that happen to who? Me!!!!!!!! I can’t find the outlet,(of course)I don’t have any water and have to get it out of a drinking fountain, I trip over a blender, I lose then find the bag, I forget what to do for a couple seconds, I forget what measurements to use, appoligize a gazillion times, and the expirement doesn’t work! Well at least I got the explaining right, though she hinted I missed something. I got a particapation badge, big surprise.
Oh well….
It’s learning time! Read and be cursed with being knowledgable! DNA is located inside the cell’s nucleus. It looks like, ya know, two squiggly lines with the bars….Like this?

The backbone is made of deoxyribose(sugar) and phosphate, each base is made up of two of these, Citosine, Adenine, Thymine, andĀ Guanine. Guanine is always with Cytosine, Adenine is always with Thymine. Like the letters in the alphabet, put them in a certain order and you get different words, each one makes a certain type of protein. DNA tells the cell how to make protein. First I blended a banana and water, theĀ blender brakes down the cell walls. Secondly, I mix dish soap, water and salt in a seperate container until it disolves. Why I use soap is because of this, the dish soap breaks down the lipids(fats) in the cell membrane and the nucleus membrane, letting the DNA escape. DNA strands are too small for us to see, even under my microscope! DNA has a negative charge, so no matter what I do they won’t touch. Except for…..salt!!!!!!!!!! Salt has ions, some ions are negative, some are positive. When salt dissolves, it seperates into two groups once again, negative, and positive. The negative does nothing, the positive neuteralizes the DNA, and they turn to clumps, which I can see under a microscope! Is it that enough for yall? It really stunk! It was great! I did the best I could! I am proud of my work….. (Is my dad still looking?) If they’re looking, hi Mom! Hi Dad! Hi relatives!
#1 by Lucinda Sporleder on March 25th, 2008
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Jessica, As usual you brought a smile to my face as I read your blog. Actually, I chuckled right out loud. Thankfully I was alone in the classroom or someone would have thought I was a nut. Thanks for constantly teaching me new things! You are an inspiration to me!
Keep reading and wondering…the joy of learning never ends!!!!!! (And isn’t it wonderful to be able to make mistakes and learn even more from it??)
Mrs. Sporleder
#2 by Kyleigh on March 26th, 2008
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To Jess,
YOU DO KNOW YOUR CRAZY, RIGHT? I mean literally, it’s cool, and interesting, but it’s crazy. What kind of person can strip DNA from a banana??? Do bananas even have DNA once they are picked?
#3 by Jessica on March 26th, 2008
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Thanks Mrs. Sporleder
, never would I though a teacher would comment on my blog! You are an awesome teacher!
HI KYLEIGH!!!! Bananas do have DNA, even before they’re picked(I think) See you on spring break