DANIEL IGLESIAS’ 5TH GRADE SCIENCE FAIR

THE BIG QUESTION Can I extract DNA from an onion? I wanted to know this because I was curious and it seemed cool.

HYPOTHESIS Yes, I can extract DNA from an onion, because all living organisms have DNA.

INTERESTING FACTS When chopped, an onion makes you cry When all materials are mixed they smell funny and are slimy This experiment can easily be done with things you have in your kitchen

EXPERIMENT MATERIALS 1 tsp. Salt 1 tsp.dish soap Half an onion 1 tsp. Salt 1 tsp.dish soap ¼ cup ethylated spirits ½ cup water 1 coffee filter 1 toothpick Knife & cutting board A strainer Blender 2 clear glasses timer

Details Step by Step To begin cut half an onion and put it into a blender. In ½ a cup of water, I dissolved 1 tsp. of salt then add that to the blender. Blend for 1 min

Details Then strain the mixture into a glass Then add 1 tsp. of dish soap to the liquid

Details Then pour the liquid through the coffee filter into another glass

Details Have an adult then pour Ethylated spirit on top of the onion liquid. After a while a white fluffy layer formed. Swirl with a toothpick. There should be a slime. That is the DNA!

CONTROL Extracting DNA from an onion does not have a control group.

OBSERVATIONS When I first chopped the onion it didn’t seem possible to extract DNA When I mixed the water,salt, soap and spirits it just looked like mush After I let the liquid sit for a while,it was pretty amazing to see the white foam Then when I swirled with the toothpick the stuff that looked like “snot” was the DNA!

DATA I did not have a control so I was not able to make a chart or graph. There was nothing to compare.

ANALYSIS OF DATA a.Yes, the experiment did test my hypothesis. b. I know this because I was able to extract DNA from an onion. I believed that it was possible and it was easier than I thought.

CONCLUSION Yes , my hypothesis was correct. The onion did have DNA and I was able to extract it much easier than I had thought. If I could change something it would be the onion. I would try a flower next time. I would like to see how different the DNA from a flower would look.

CONCLUSION c. A new question that I have is; What information is in the DNA ?

REFERENCE PAGE www.biology.about.com (Aug 2009) DNA models www.instructorweb.com (Sept 2009) DNA www.internet4classrooms.com (Sept 2009) science knowledge and skills www.sciencebuddies.org (Aug 2009) extracting onion DNA www.terimore.com (Aug 2009) science projects ideas