Question

Will adding anticoagulants to materials that are in the coagulation process diminish the thickness of the material greatly?

Background Information

Getting scratched can cause someone to bleed but soon stop. The cut stops bleeding due to the process called hemostasis. This process is very important because if hemostasis did not exist, everyone would bleed out. A key component of hemostasis is coagulation, the process of a liquid turning into a semisolid or solid. In terms of blood, this is called blood clotting. Coagulation happens when people get a cut, but how does it happen? There are four main components directly involved in hemostasis: Platelets, Clotting Factors, fibrin, and red and white blood cells. When a person is cut, blood vessels, the small tubes that blood is transferred through, are broken. When they are opened, small fragments of a cell which are called platelets rush to the cut to temporarily clog the opening. To reinforce this clot, clotting factors, group of proteins, then join the platelets. However, this is not enough to completely stop the bleeding. In order to completely stop it, fibrin, a protein mesh, hold the clotting factors and platelets together while nearby red and white blood cells join the clot. Once the cut is completely healed, the clot naturally dissolves. When these processes do not function adequately, fatal blood disorders could result such as Hemophilia- a blood disorder regarding excessive bleeding. In excessive bleeding, hemostasis does not operate correctly which in turn prevents the action of coagulation. Consequently, people with excessive bleeding disorders are prescribed with coagulants, which in our project will be Sodium Alginate. However, if there is too much blood clotting, then other types of blood disorders such as Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) and Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) can occur. In this case, patients are prescribed with anticoagulants. In our project, Sodium Citrate will be our anticoagulant which is very similar to trisodium citrate which is prescribed in real life. This slide doesn’t have to be used if you would rather have it portrait but be aware there might not be space for a portrait.

An important question was posed when we chose to use sodium citrate: “Why do anticoagulants like sodium citrate and trisodium citrate work?” Anticoagulation is correlated to the calcium. When hemostasis occurs, platelets around the opening increase the amount of calcium around the wound, which affects how the proteins interact with clotting factors. This is where the anticoagulants come into play. The anticoagulant- trisodium citrate in this case- would grab the calcium. It does this by breaking apart into sodium and citrate. The citrate then chelates or binds to the calcium which as a result forms calcium citrate. Now that the calcium is all chelated, the coagulation stops. In our project, calcium chloride will be used as our calcium. We will use Sodium Alginate to coagulate the calcium because Sodium Alginate needs calcium for coagulation the same way blood needs calcium. We will be mixing Calcium Chloride (CaCl 2 ) and Sodium Alginate (NaC 6 H 7 O 6 ) to make Calcium Alginate (C 12 H 14 CaO 12 ). The Calcium Alginate will then be mixed with Sodium Citrate (Na3C6H5O7).

Hypothesis

If we increase the concentrations of sodium citrate, then the results from the coagulation process will differ exponentially because our research suggests that the higher the amount of anticoagulant the less coagulated material is produced.

Variables

Independent: The amount of sodium citrate being added to the calcium alginate solution Dependent: What forms when different amounts of sodium citrate is added to the calcium alginate solution Maintained Variable: -Time -Amount of sodium alginate being used

Materials

Graph Paper (one sheet) 1 cup of cold tap water 2 grams of Sodium Alginate Blender (big or small) Digital Scale (measure to.1 gram increments) Clean spoon (at least 7 different spoons) Food Coloring (5 drops) 3 bowls Sticky Notes 1 cup of room temperature water 3.9 grams of Calcium Chloride 5 grams of Sodium Citrate Syringe Stopwatch Log Book Pencil/Pen

Procedures

Print materials off and layer it -Portrait OR Landscape -Probably Landscape is best to save space -If space conservation is not needed then print it Portrait (aesthetically more pleasing)

Discussion

Print this off Portrait WE HAVE ENOUGH SPACE

Conclusion

Print this off Portrait WE HAVE ENOUGH SPACE