Category Archives: Chemistry of Life (Core & AHL)
Photosynthesis Linklist
Here’s a bit of silliness to begin:
And now for some ‘proper’ stuff:
(Download the version with animations and notes here: photosynthesis.ppt)
Step-through – Garrett and Grisham Biochemistry
John Kyrk again – very detailed
Simple, not entirely relevant – University of Aberdeen
Old-school animations, useful explanations – Teachnet
Light dependent reaction:
Nice and simple – St Olaf college
Another simple animation – on the webpage of National Louis University
Light Independent Reactions:
Calvin cycle step-through – National Louis University
Nice interactive Calvin cycle – Smith College
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Some more general videos and overviews after the jump…
Cell Respiration – linklist
Here’s a good one for an opener: no narration, just an action-packed graphic.
It comes from Dr. Meyer at Queensborough Community College.
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– Here’s a cracking step-through animation – from John Burrell at Patana
Slideshare.net has collections of slideshows that can be viewed online:
Download the editable version here: cell_respiration_hl.ppt
Here’s another:
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OK, here are some more animations:
Respiration is not breathing! – Tim and Moby (Brainpop)
Good tutorial with questions – University of Wisconsin
Simple overview – Herriot Watt
Flash Overview – UC Davis biosciences
Windows Media overview (very flashy, above HL) – Virtual Cell Animation Collection
Stage-specific animations after the jump (glycolysis, Kreb’s cycle and ETC, oxidative phosphorylation)
Gene Almanac – a resource of good animations and simulations
From the Dolan Learning Centre, this collection of animations and simulations can be downloaded easily for PC and MAC.
Clicking the image on the left should bring you directly to an animation about the polymerase chain reaction.
DNA Replication: linklist
There are stacks of DNA replication animations on the internet. Here are a few good ones.
John Kyrk (HL, very detailed and good)
New Century College (simple, clear) This school sounds interesting.
Biology 7th edition from McGraw Hill
Bioteach (cartoony, but has it all)
Remember – DNA replication is NOT Protein Synthesis – it doesn’t involve transcription and translation!
Pathways of Cancer
From DNAtube, this section of an animation outlines the chain reaction of events that lead to uncontrolled cell growth.
How to Build Tricky Compounds and Make a Cup of Tea
Have a go at this demo from Presence Multimedia, aimed at A-Level students. It can be saved, is a bit of a challenge and works on the SMART Board.
A simple hunt around their site reveals other educational gems, such as ‘How to Wire a Plug‘, a ‘Personal MOT (good for ATL), and ‘How to Make a Cup of Tea‘.
Yes, you read that correctly – there is a Flash app on the internet to teach you how to make a cup of tea.
A new year, a new beginning (of all life on Earth)
Two short clips of Miller-Urey’s experiments demonstrating the formation of amino acids from water, ammonia and hydrogen (with a little help from lightning). The evidence produced by this experiment supported the hypothesis of chemical evolution – the formation of organic compounds from inorganic molecules.
Thanks to Hilary Rimbi from the IB’s OCC for posting this link. 
A quick Google search turned up this short clip of Stanley Miller describing the experimental set-up.
If you click here, you can also try a simulation of the experiment (can be saved with Flashcatcher). This little Flash was produced by the University of California at San Diego’s TV channel. I haven’t had time to search through their site, but there may be more useful nuggets of Science gold there.
Recombinant DNA Technology
Here are some animations about rDNA technology. More direct links below the video.
University of Delaware (thanks to biology_sparkly at the TES Boards) Basic animation but lots of relevant info. Can be saved.
rDNA and plasmid and phage vectors from the Royal Veterinary College (more animations on the left of their page)
The New Scientists playing with food
Two experiments from the New Scientist book ‘How to Fossilise Your Hamster‘.
In the first, we find out how to extract iron from breakfast cereal (perhaps we could use it to make a hammer to deal with the presenter):
In the second, we see how to extract casein (as an example of a polymer) from milk, using just vinegar and a stove. They keep saying ‘plastic’ here, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a plastic. Plastics are polymers, but casein is a protein (though still a polymer). Correct me if I’m wrong. Either way, it might be a good trick to introduce the proteins topics in DP Bio.
John Kyrk – Cell Biology Animation
This guy has spent a lot of time and effort on these animations, and they are brilliant.
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Visit his main page at www.johnkyrk.com and you’ll find all you need for IB Bio HL Cells and Chemistry of Life.
i-Biology 