Potato Lab

1. You should have two labeled red cups on your lab table.
2. When Ms. Garvey calls you up, you will grab the bottle of solution to pour into your cup.
You will need to screw off the cap to pour it and will fill the cup up to the bottom of the
tape label.
3. When you are done return the bottle to the back counter and leave the two cups of liquid
on your lab table.
4. You will get the following items from the back table:
a. Potato corer
b. Razor
c. Probe
5. You are going to make 8 potato cores
a. Put potato flat on lab bench with a paper towel under it.
b. Push the potato corer down through the potato.
c. Pull the potato corer out of the potato.
d. Use the probe to push the core out of the corer
e. Use the razor to remove any potato skin on the core you removed.
f. You will do this until you have 8 cores.
6. DO NOT PUT YOUR POTATO CORES IN THE CUPS YET!!!!
7. Bring your eight potato cores and your two cups up to the front table that has the balance
on it.
8. Either Mrs. Brown or Ms. Garvey will assist you with taking the initial mass of the potato
cores.
a. The balance should have a paper towel on it already.
b. Tare the balance before putting any potato cores on.
c. Place a group of four potato cores on the balance.
d. Write the mass on the red cup masking tape.
e. Place the four potato cores in one cup.
f. Repeat this process for your next group of four potato cores and then place those
in the other red cup.
9. Once complete, you can put the red cups on the back counter (they will sit for 24 hours).
10. Throw away the potato and paper towel in the garbage.
11. Wash off the potato corer, probe, and razor with water in the sink at your lab table.
a. Once they are cleaned place them on the back table to dry on the paper towel.

Onion Lab
1. Grab a microscope for your table. Hold it carefully by the neck and the base and keep it
close to your body to prevent dropping it.
a. If you have 3 or 4 people at your table you can grab 2 microscopes for your table.
b. If you have 2 people at your table you can grab 1 microscope for your table.
2. You will grab a mini beaker from the back table and a dropper/pipette.
3. Fill the mini beaker with tap water from the sink on your lab table.
4. Ms. Garvey or Mrs. Brown will walk around and give you a cover slip and slide.
5. Grab a dish of onion in water from the back counter and bring it to your table.
6. Take onion from the water with your hands and peel off an inside layer of the onion.
7. Lay the thin onion layer flat in the middle of the slide.
8. Use the dropper to put 2-3 drops of tap water on the slide.
9. Place the cover slip on the slide over the water
droplets/onion.
a. Start at a 45-degree angle.
b. Touch the edge of the cover slip to the liquid.
c. Slowly lower the cover slip down to the slide.
10. Plug the microscope into the outlet at your lab bench.
(the outlets are near the sink at your table)
11. Turn the light of your microscope on.
12. Start microscope at the lowest magnification 4x
a. Since the ocular lens is 10x and the objective lens is 4x, the total magnification
for the lowest power objective is 40x.
b. You will be drawing at 100x today, so that means you will be on the 2nd objective
lens, which is 10x.
13. Carefully place your onion slide on the stage. You will need to open the stage clip to do
this. Make sure you do not let the clip swing, otherwise the slide may break.
14. Your onion sample should be centered over the hole in the stage. If it is not, there are
silver knobs under the stage that allow it to move left/right and front/back.
15. Once the sample is centered, look through the ocular lenses using both eyes. Use the
eyepieces just like binoculars. DO NOT CLOSE ONE EYE. If you need you can adjust
the width of the eyepieces so you can see with both eyes.
16. Focus the slide on the lowest magnification.
a. You should be on the 4x objective lens.
b. Look through the ocular lens.
c. If it is not focused: use the coarse adjustment knob (the knob on the neck/sides of
the microscope that move the stage up/down. The larger part of the knob is the
coarse adjustment. Move this while looking through the microscope until the
sample is focused.
d. If you need help ask Mrs. Brown or Ms. Garvey!
17. Once the specimen is focused on the 4x magnification, turn the objective lens to the 10x
magnification.
18. Focus the slide using the fine adjustment knob which is the smaller knob attached onto
the coarse adjustment knob on your microscope.
19. Once the microscope is focused, you will draw what you see in your notes.
a. Label the drawing Onion Cells in H2O 100x
20. Mrs. Brown or Ms. Garvey will give you a dropper bottle with salt water.
21. Place your onion slide on the table with a paper towel underneath it.
22. You will need a paper towel and the dropper of salt water.
23. Place the paper towel at one edge of the cover slip.
24. Place multiple drops of salt water at the opposite edge of the cover slip.
25. The water will be soaked up by the paper towel and will be replaced with the salt water
drops.
26. If you need help, ask Mrs. Brown for help.
27. Once the slide has the salt water, wait 2 minutes.
28. Once it has been 2 minutes, place the slide on the stage of the microscope.
29. Focus it on the lowest magnification, then draw at the 10x objective.
30. The onion cells should look different than the first sample.
a. If they dont look different: call over Mrs. Brown or Ms. Garvey for help.
b. If they do look different: draw what you see in your notes.
31. Draw what you see and label it Onion Cells in Salt Water 100x
32. Now, you will replace the salt water with tap water.
a. Use the same technique of the paper towel at one end, but this time you the
dropper of tap water at the other edge.
b. Use multiple drops of tap water.
33. Once the slide is complete, focus it under the microscope.
34. Observe the onion cells under the microscope every 60 seconds.
35. Once it has been 5 minutes, draw what you see in your notes.
36. Make sure to label your drawing!
37. Once you have finished, it is time to clean-up your area.
a. Throw away the onion slice and cover slip.
b. Wash the microscope slide with water and place it on the back counter to dry.
c. Place the mini beaker and dropper/pipette on the back counter to dry.
d. Turn the light of the microscope off and unplug it from the outlet.
e. Put the lowest power objective lens in focus.
f. Use the coarse adjustment knob to bring the stage all the way up.
g. Carefully wrap the cord around itself (NOT AROUND THE MICROSCOPE) and
place it underneath the microscope stage, on the base of the microscope.
h. Place the fabric microscope cover over the microscope and carefully carry it back
to the shelves.
i. Throw away any paper towels.