Guiding Question:

What biomolecules are in everyday food items?

Literature Review:
All living things are made of biomolecules. The biomolecules are carbohydrates, lipids,
proteins, and nucleic acid. Humans need carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins to survive.
Organic molecules are in everything we eat. Scientists test food items in a lab in order to
conclude what types of biomolecules are present in different types of food.
Procedure:
Label the test tubes according to the beakers and put 1 mL of the substances in the
correlating beakers. Then, for the starch test, put 5 drops of iodine into the test tubes.
Wait a couple of minutes and if the substance turns dark blue or black, the sample is
positive for starch. For the protein test, add 5 drops of Biuret to the test tubes. Wait a
couple of minutes and if your sample turned purple, it is positive for protein. For the
glucose test, add 5 drops of Benedicts into each of the test tubes. For the glucose test,
place the test tube in a beaker with 100 mL of water that is being heated by a hot plate. If
after 2 minutes, the substance has turned green/orange, it is positive for glucose. For the
lipid test, place 1 mL of each of the substances on a paper towel. If after 10-15 minutes
the substance dried and left behind a grease stain, the sample is positive for lipid. Repeat
these tests multiple times for the most accurate results.
Safety:
Wear goggles, apron, closed toe shoes, and tie hair back
Materials:
Dropper, beaker, test tube, hot plate
Results:
The results of my groups Biochemistry lab we did involved a Carbohydrate test, protein
test, and a lipid test. We had the food labeled unknown D, Unknown C, and water. The
first test we did was the starch part of the Carbohydrate tests. The results came out to be
that Unknown D was the only food that had Starch present because it had a blackish color
to it once the iodine was put in as instructed. unknown C was a purple color and the water
turned brown, making both foods negative for starch. The second test part for
carbohydrates we conducted was for glucose. all the foods were negative for glucose
present. With Benedict's solution and heat added Unknown D turned a purple color,
Unknown C turned dark blue, and the water turned light blue. For the protein test Biuret
solution was added and Unknown C turned purple making it positive. Unknown D turned
pinkish and water did not change colors. The last test conductor was the Lipid test.
Unknown D turned out to be the only food that was present with lipids.
Conclusion:
This experiment investigated what biomolecules are in samples of unknown liquids.
Many different tests were completed in order to find which biomolecules the unknown
liquids contained. These tests include testing for glucose, starch, protein, and lipid. The
liquid changed color when the chemical was added, and if the unknown liquid changed

into a certain color, the liquid was positive for the biomolecule being tested. When tested
using Biuret, Unknown Sample C turned purple, which means the sample was a liquid
that consisted of the biomolecule, protein. Unknown Sample D changed to black when
tested using Iodine and left a grease stain when being tested for containing a lipid. This
means Unknown Sample D consisted of both a starch and a lipid. These biomolecule tests
allow scientists to determine what organic molecules are present in different types of
food. It is important to understand what biomolecules food contains when dealing with
allergies, attempting to diet, or to confirm what food is being eaten. The results may not
be valid because there were not many trials, the hot plates heat was not measured
exactly, and the amount of each liquid and chemical was not distributed evenly.