How temperature affects cell membranes.

This is a worksheet for level 3 biology students, which can be completed before carrying out the experiment which uses beetroot and colorimeters to look at how temperature affects cell membranes.
It helps assess if students have got sufficient prior knowledge.
It encourages students to make predictions and justify them.
It provides an opportunity to apply facts, and stretches the more more able student.
It also has questions on mathematics and English language.

The beetroot practical involves cutting discs of fresh beetroot and placing them in water, in boiling tubes. These tubes are then placed in a variety of temperatures. After which the water in each of the boiling tubes is placed in a cuvette and the % transmission (or absorbance) measured. A graph is then plotted. It should show a significant change around the temperature which causes proteins to denature.