Exploring Lactose Intolerance
Abstract:
Additional Project Information
Project files
Research Plan:
- Take a plastic cup and label it “Positive Control”
- Put 2 g of glucose powder into the cup
- Add 100 mL of water and stir until the glucose has dissolved.
- Take another cup and fill it with 100 ml of water
- Test both of the liquids with separate glucose strips for 3 seconds each, then wait 30 seconds to see results.
- Label two small cups with lactose-free milk and regular milk.
- Get 20 mL of each milk and and pour each milk (lactose-free and regular) in the corresponding cup
- Determine the glucose concentration in the regular milk sample using a test strip. Then do the same for the lactose free milk.
- Add a drop of enzyme solution into the regular milk and rub back and forth with your hands for two minutes and time yourself with a stopwatch.
- Then do the same for the Lactose free milk. Test this liquid with a test strip and record answers.
Questions and Answers
1. What was the major objective of your project and what was your plan to achieve it?
a. Was that goal the result of any specific situation, experience, or problem you encountered?
No. I just wanted to do the project because it sounded interesting and my brother had lactose intolerance before, so I thought it would be interesting to explore it.
b. Were you trying to solve a problem, answer a question, or test a hypothesis?
Yes. I was trying to answer the question: what is the basis of lactose intolerance? I also wanted to figure out through this experiment what the difference in glucose there is in regular milk versus lactose free milk.
2. What were the major tasks you had to perform in order to complete your project?
I had to make sure to manage my time accordingly.
a. For teams, describe what each member worked on.
I didn’t have a team, I worked solo.
3. What is new or novel about your project?
My project has been already done before, but it was still thrilling to explore!
a. Is there some aspect of your project's objective, or how you achieved it that you haven't done before?
It was a project that has been done before, so I didn’t achieve anything others haven’t before me.
b. Is your project's objective, or the way you implemented it, different from anything you have seen?
The original objective was to find out the basis of lactose intolerance, but I added that I also wanted to know the amount of glucose in regular versus lactose free milk.
c. If you believe your work to be unique in some way, what research have you done to confirm that it is?
Mine is not unique because it is an experiment that has been done by others.
4. What was the most challenging part of completing your project?
a. What problems did you encounter, and how did you overcome them?
I encountered a time crunch, and my experiment kit did not have all of the things I needed.
b. What did you learn from overcoming these problems?
I learned to manage my time better.
5. If you were going to do this project again, are there any things you would do differently the next time?
Yes, I would go into more depth into the topic, and would do it over a longer period of time, not a week before it’s due.
6. Did working on this project give you any ideas for other projects?
Yes! Now I would love to explore things involving fingerprints, and how different surfaces can affect them on how they print out of paper when looking at them.
7. How did COVID-19 affect the completion of your project?
It didn’t affect me at all.