Microsoft word - sample sci fair paper

Caffeine, medically known as trimethylzanthine. Its chemical formula is C8H10N4O2. When in pure form, caffeine is a white crystalline powder that taste very bitter. The most common way of acquiring pure caffeine is the process of decaffeinating coffee and Caffeine is useful as a cardiac stimulant and also as a mild diuretic. Cardiac stimulants increase the heart rate, and diuretics increase urine production. Caffeine is also used to provide a “boost of energy” or a feeling of heightened alertness. Caffeine is an addictive drug. It operates using the same mechanisms that amphetamines, cocaine and heroin use to stimulate the brain. Caffeine’s effects are more mild than the above listed drugs, but it is manipulating the same channels and this gives caffeine its addictive qualities. If you feel like you cannot function without it, then you are addicted to caffeine. Caffeine occurs naturally in many plants, such as, coffee beans, tea leaves and cocoa nuts. Caffeine is added artificially to many products, including a variety of beverages. Below is a table of products and the amount of caffeine in each. Product Amount of Caffeine
Jolt and Similar Products 70 mg / 12 oz can How does caffeine work? Your brain creates a chemical called adenosine. This chemical binds to adenosine receptors in the brain. The binding of adenosine causes drowsiness by slowing down nerve To a nerve cell, caffeine looks like adenosine, and caffeine binds to the adenosine receptors. The caffeine does not slow down the cell’s activities like adenosine, but instead, speeds up the cell’s activities. Caffeine also constricts the brain’s blood vessels. If you have a vascular headache, caffeine can slow down the blood flow to the brain and relieve it. Therefore, some headache medicines like The pituitary gland sees all of the activity and thinks some sort of emergency must be occurring and causes a release of the hormone adrenaline. Adrenaline speeds up the bodies functions even The most important long-term problem is the effect that caffeine has on sleep. Adenosine reception is important to sleep, and especially to deep sleep. If you drink a big cup of coffee with 200 mg of caffeine in it at 3:00 PM, about 100mg is still in your system at 9:00 PM. You may be able to fall asleep, but you body probably will miss out on the benefits of deep sleep. The deficit adds up fast. The next day you feel worse, so you need caffeine as soon as you get out of The Effects of Caffeine on Daphnia - An Experimental
Investigation
Problem: Does caffeine effect the heartrate of daphnia? Hypothesis: I believe caffeine, when added to the water daphnia is in, Procedure: 1) Brew a strong pot of coffee to assure a response. 2) Extract a daphnia from the culture using the dropper. 3) Place the daphnia on the dish slide. Make sure the daphnia has 5) Count the heartbeats for 1 minute. Do this 2 times and get an average. Record the bpms in the Data Table. 6) Add a drop of strong brewed coffee to the dish and quickly count the number of heartbeats. Do this twice, get an average and record 7) Follow the above steps with 4 more daphnia. Results:
Conclusion: My data shows that given a drop of coffee containing caffeine, daphnia’s heart rate increased on average 18 beats per minute. This proves my hypothesis to be correct. Fox, Richard, Invertebrate Anatomy, Daphnia magna, Caffeine as a Drug, www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1525/abt.2010.72.3.9

Source: http://herndonmagnetschool.com/scifairjames.PDF