The Cold War in Europe and Asia A comparison Essay Example

The Cold War in Europe and Asia A comparison Essay The aftermath of the Second World War saw the formation of a bi-polar world, with the United States and the Soviet Union dominating their respective hemispheres. Both the powers were equipped with nuclear arsenal and any direct confrontation could have led to the destruction of the species. In this atmosphere where the stakes are very high, most of the strategic advantage is won through diplomacy and applying political pressure. This variety of wielding power has come to be known as the Cold War, where advantages were won or lost through tactful diplomacy as against the use of force. The implications of the Cold War were not confined to the partners and allies of the two superpowers. Given the scale of their economies, the superpowers sought to dominate other nations wherever they can, either through ideological coercion on military intervention. Hence, Europe and Asia were also polarized to balance the two sides. Many independent nation states were forced to choose sides between the capitalist democracy of the Western world and the communist soviets of the Eastern world. So, although they were not the central players in the tussle for world domination, many countries in the European and Asian continents aligned themselves with one of the existing dominant powers. The rest of the essay will explore the nature of these affiliations and the essential differences between the situation in Europe and Asia. We will write a custom essay sample on The Cold War in Europe and Asia A comparison specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Cold War in Europe and Asia A comparison specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Cold War in Europe and Asia A comparison specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer History will show that the European nations after Second World War were divided geographically as well as ideologically as belonging to the western democratic bloc or the eastern communist bloc. Long-time partner and a trusted lieutenant of the United States, namely Great Britain, is the leading representative of this western coalition. Other nations that aligned with the United States were Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, etc. The countries of Eastern Europe were imposed with communist governments and hence came under the influence of the Soviet Union. Some of them were Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belarus, etc. Germany was deemed a key prize in the spoils of the Second Great War and so its reigns were bitterly contested. In the end both superpowers had to strike a compromise and divide Germany into their respective halves. This event was a key flashpoint in the years immediately following the end of the War. In the western hemisphere, the peak cold war confrontation manifested in the form of the Cuban Missile crisis. It was the year 1961, under the leadership of President John F. Kennedy; the world came perilously close to a deadly confrontation between the two major powers. The Soviet Union was under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev. Lying only 145 km from the coast of the USA, Cuba had always been of concern to the United States (America still maintains a naval base there to the present day at Guantanamo). The relations between the two nations took a U-turn with the onset of the communist revolution in 1959. Fidel Castro’s consequent rise to power made Cuba a real and present danger. The pressing concern for the United States was the potential symbolic threat that a communist neighbor would prove to be. The fiasco that was the Bay of Pigs invasion, intended to dispel and if possible eliminate Castro, was an affair of big embarrassment for the Kennedy Administration. Thi s further strained the diplomatic relations between the two countries. At this juncture Castro was left with little option but to strengthen relations with the Soviet Union. It benefited the Soviet Union to respond to Cuba’s call for protection, as setting up a base so near the American coast was of strategic importance. The events of these fortuitous days for mankind unraveled in the backdrop of the cold war. The 50’s were a period of economic and technological advancement for both superpowers. Paralleling this prosperity was the escalating ideological conflict between democracy and communism. The tense couple of weeks that would later be called the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest this planet came to complete annihilation. Soviet missiles with capabilities to wipe out all major cities in eastern United States were positioned just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. A last minute command from Khrushchev to soviet ships heading to Cuba saved the planet from a potential Armageddon. On the Asian continent, the underdeveloped region of Indo-China proved to be the key cold-war battleground. The Vietnam War is also known as the second of the Indochina Wars. It was waged between the late 1950’s and the mid 1970’s. The lush forested terrain of the Vietnamese country side was the battleground for much of the war. The force of the North Vietnam, which was basically oriented towards communism, was seen as a threat by the American government. It believed that left uncontrolled, the spread of communism would usurp the democratic South Vietnam as well. Hence, the American government decided to send troops in support of South Vietnam and retain its democratic government. This wider context of the war made it one of the tense phases of the Cold war period. The United States, the sole aggressor in the Vietnam War, was forced to draw back its troops as a result of the failed military campaign as well as mounting pressure from its general public. Hence, it could be asserted that the causes that led to the American defeat were multifold. Some of the salient ones include the inability to understand the foreign primitive culture of the Vietnamese and underestimating their military organization skills. The growing unrest of the American public over the number of casualties and the ambiguity of the American motive were also important reasons. The guerilla warfare technique proved too difficult for the G.I.s to tackle. The growing lack of discipline and commitment of the American troops was another key reason for the defeat of the United States in the Vietnam War. Alongside the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, the Vietnam War was another important flashpoint during the cold war period where the two superpowers came very close to mutual destr uction. In the Far Eastern Asia, China to be more precise, communism was taking firm roots. Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the Soviet Union had found a willing ally to propagate communist ideology. Although the United States tried several diplomatic maneuvers to undermine the links between the two communist Asian neighbors, the efforts were to prove futile. First of all, the geographic location of China had put it outside the American sphere of influence. Secondly, China had developed a strong military, unaffected by the turmoil of the Second World War, which made any direct confrontation with it a tough proposition. Japan, on the other hand, was recovering from the disastrous consequences of the Atomic bomb attacks and chose not to attract further trouble by remaining neutral in the Cold War period. Elsewhere in Asia, the long confrontation between the United States and U.S.S.R. backed proxies in Afghanistan had frustrated and weakened the latter. During the 1980’s the U.S.S.R. was going through a severe economic slump as well. At this juncture, the Soviet Union was no more in a position to strengthen its war machinery, which gave its rival undisputed advantage, bringing an end to the Cold War. The deteriorating economic conditions stirred the people of the Soviet Union to openly demonstrate against their government’s failure, which by the late 1980’s had reached abysmal levels. People from the communist bloc nations were making desperate attempts to flee to countries in Western Europe. Likewise, people from East Germany were attempting to escape to the more prosperous West Germany in order to avail of better economic and social prospects. The upper echelons of the Soviet government were facing tremendous pressure to act decisively and quickly. The only option left was to dismantle the Union and open the countries to political and economic reforms. Bringing down the Berlin Wall in 1990 was the symbolic act that ushered in a new post-cold war era in the world.

Development of Cryptology Essay

Development of Cryptology Essay Development of Cryptology Essay Modular Arithmetic Modular Arithmetic is a type of maths which falls under the number theory category, and gives us a whole new perspective when looking at numbers. The most common use of this idea is through clocks where after you get to 12 the clock resets back to 1. Which then leads to these strange equations such as: 7 + 9 = 4 Or 9 + 9 = 6 When looking at these equations one might see them as being incorrect, which they are for a normal mathematical equations, but true using clock arithmetic1. For example 10 o’clock is 4 hours before 2 o’clock, so what we are really doing is 2 - 4 = -2 and then adding 12 to that answer. .Ë™. 2 - 4 + 12 = 10. This then brings about the idea of congruences, which we will need to use in order to understand some encryption systems. Looking back on our clock arithmetic we could also write them as congruences using a modulus. A modulus â€Å"is a number that is used as a divisor for considering number sets, numbers being considered congruent when giving the same remainder when divided by a particular modulus†2. When in clock arithmetic we are using a modulus of 12. So looking at our past example our equations become: 7 + 9 = 16 ≠£ 4 (mod 12) and 9 + 9 = 18 ≠£ 6 (mod 12) So we get 16 is congruent to 4 modulo 12 and 18 is congruent to 6 modulo 12 But we do not always have to use Modulus 12 when doing Modular Arithmetic, we can also use other numbers that are greater than 1. Such as using a Modulo 7: 23 ≠£ 2 (mod 7) and 9 ≠£ 2 (mod 7) We can see that the difference between the two numbers can be divided by the modulus. For example 23 - 2 = 21, which can be divided into 7 evenly. 21 à · 7 = 3. It’s this simple way of looking at numbers that gives us a big help when we are dealing with larger numbers. From the larger number, we can reduce it to a smaller number modulo m (m = any integer greater than 1). Such as what we have done with the number 23, we have found that its congruent partner is 2 (mod 7), making it an easier number to work with. Cryptography Have you ever wondered how a bank keeps your financial secrets safe and locked away so no one but you can access them? Or even how companies on the internet such as face book, store all of your personal information and keeps it safe? Well, it’s because of the simple idea of cryptography that you can sleep at night knowing that all of your information is safe. Cryptography is defined as â€Å"the art of writing or solving codes†3 and is one of the most important areas of study that exists in the world today. Codes aren’t only used to store our personal information, their main use was to assist the military in sending important messages to allies without their enemies finding out what the message said. Cryptography uses some different terminology that you might not understand, so let’s just go over some of the key words that will come up in this investigation. The uncoded or original message will be referred to as the Plaintext. The act of encoding a message is known as Encryption and the result of all of this is what is called the Ciphertext. The act of changing the Ciphertext back to plain text is called Decrypting. Both the processes of Encrypting and Decrypting both rely on a certain piece of information called the Key. The key is like a password and holds all of the information needed to decrypt and encrypt a message. Without the key decrypting and encrypting is made a lot more difficult, but we call this Breaking the Code4. When creating codes we write the plaintext in lower case letters (abcd) and we write the ciphertext in upper case letters (ABCD), this is so we can tell which is which. Substitution Cipher The first cipher we will look at is a substitution cipher. A substitution cipher is one of the more common and easy to work with ciphers where we simply replace one letter with another letter and do this for every other

How to Write an Essay about Yourself †Getting Personal

How to Write an Essay about Yourself – Getting Personal How to Write an Essay about Yourself – Getting Personal Write an essay about yourself? Wasn’t that something done in elementary and middle school? Actually, yes, it was, but writing an essay about yourself may be resurrected once you hit college, in a couple of courses. The Autobiographical Essay in English Comp Any essay that you write about yourself is considered a narrative, even if the topic should be only a little â€Å"slice† of your life. When you were in elementary school, you probably wrote essays about your favorite toy, your favorite best vacation, etc. In college, however, you may be asked to write an essay about yourself in relation to a far more â€Å"adult† topic. In an English class, for example, you may be tasked with writing an essay on one of the following topics: How are your values different now than they were in middle school? What values do you have that your parents’ generation does not? What experiences led you to choose your major field of study? If you could be anyone else in the world who would it be and why? If, 10 years from now, you considered yourself a success, what would your life be like? The Personal Essay in Sociology Because sociology is the study of society and groups within that society, you might want to be prepared for an essay on a topic like these: How would you describe your family and your place in it? How has your socio-economic status impacted your values? What type of family unit will you pursue as an adult? What will be your ideal workplace? The Personal Essay in Political Science Normally, you would not think of writing an essay about yourself in a political science class, but these are becoming far more common. Here are some potential topics: Do you affiliate with a particular Party? Why or why not? How do you decide for whom you will vote? Structuring the Essay About Yourself If you think you don’t know how to write an essay about yourself, think again. The structure for this type of essay is just as it is for all essays. You have the topic You need to develop a thesis statement. Obviously, you will be the subject of that statement, but it must relate to the topic. For example, â€Å"Growing up in poverty has had a major impact on the person I am today, in three important ways.† Your 3 body paragraphs will each address one of the â€Å"important ways.† Conclusions in these types of essays often look toward the future, and you may do that or restate your thesis in a different say. You see? You do know how to write an essay about yourself. And it is usually more easily written because, after all, who know you better than you?

You wil examne your daily routine and determine the CO2 that you Research Paper

You wil examne your daily routine and determine the CO2 that you generate as a result - Research Paper Example Digestion and Breathing: we are taught at high school that we all breathe to alive and carbon dioxide is the byproduct of the process of respiration. Keeping in mind today’s socio-political structure we can say that humanity is considered to be the emitter of carbon dioxide. The human population present across the world produces twice the amount of carbon dioxide that is being produced by all the passenger vehicles present in US by performing regular human activities such as digestion and breathing (Carbon Dioxide, 2013). According to a Spanish study, each human being emits about 2 tons of carbon dioxide during the process of digestion (Muà ±oz, Canals, & Fernà ¡ndez-Alba, 2010). Each day a person breathes about 20,000 times. The process of breathing takes place by the help of the respiratory system. Each time a person breathes he inhales O2 and exhale CO2, so one can analyze the large amount of CO2 that is emitted by a person every day (Carbon emissions per person, by country, 2009). Food for thought: The fridge which we use regularly emits large amount of carbon dioxide but what is present inside isn’t any better. The food in total makes up about 1.3 to 1.4 tons of carbon dioxide of our footprints, in a year. The food miles are the prominent contributor to this. The transportation of the fresh vegetables and fruits gives them carbon dioxide foot prints before they even reach to our homes. There are quarter of trucks present on the roads that carry raw material and food for the food industry. However another problem is the growing and processing of food. Heating greenhouses, manufacturing fertilizers and food processing are all considered to be major energy consumers. It is probably considered to be healthier step to buy green tomatoes from Spain than buying the ones growing in UK greenhouses with lots of fertilizers in it. Consuming Electricity: burning fossil fuel emits a large amount of carbon dioxide. Coal release double amount of

Essay for applaying to the university Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

For applaying to the university - Essay Example I am well-versed in circuits and electronics and enjoy working with items such as resistors, inductors, transistors, and circuits. Computer engineering is another area that I thrive in because of my passion for computers. My background in geometry and calculus should give me an advantage over my peers in the area of mathematics. Algebra is another subject that will help me in my endeavor to becoming an Electrical Engineer. All these subjects will assist me in learning any new concepts that may come up. In addition to my educational knowledge, my life experiences will help me to achieve my goals. I like to meet people from different cultures because it gives me an opportunity to learn something new about the world; I do not claim to know everything that there is to know. In my free time I like to play soccer in order to remain active. I am very excited to hear back from you about my application to your university. I know I can surpass all your

How have cultures from the ‘west’ been represented in the ‘east’ Essay Example for Free

How have cultures from the ‘west’ been represented in the ‘east’ Essay Fundamentally the term culture means to cultivate but on other hand this word also contains some other meanings and definitions as well. Number of writers and author worked and surveyed on the actual definition of culture and in year 1952 Alfred Kroeber and Clyde has presented approximately 164 defamations of this word â€Å"culture†. If we focus these definitions and research work by our well-known authors then we can came to know the fact that culture is simply the critical review of concepts and definitions that people have. Along with this the fact has also been revealed that culture can be presented and illustrated with three different approaches like the taste in fine arts and humanities is one of the significant ways of defining one’s culture or perspective. Similarly values, goals and attitudes are also used in illustrating the cultural values. (Bryan 1963) Beside above mentioned points the human knowledge , belief and the attitudes are also used in promoting culture as these things has the power and capacity to define the thoughts and ideas of people. Later after finding numerous definition of culture in twentieth century this word emerges out with new concepts as the focus point of anthropology, which means that culture is a word that is actually composed of all the actions and thoughts that is performed by human anywhere in the world and all these behaviors does not have any sort of relation with the genetics. In West, this word has its own meaning as they have their own approaches and thoughts regarding this term, as according to them culture basically defines two things that include the human experience, imaginations and incidents which occurs with them and later they present those things according to their art and used their power of creativity as well. (Alan Bryan 1963) Similarly they illustrated the meaning of culture by presenting the idea that in this entire world there are number of people who have their own way and manners of living and with their own ideas, experience and conditions they define their own meaning of culture as the way of defining culture varies from place to place and from people to people as well. But later after the World War 2 numerous authors reformed the definition of culture and the style they had presented it was also changed and among those authors albeit played a significnat role as in this era his work and ideas are still followed and apprectiated. Besides these above mentioned definition when we go though numerous research paper and studies of different authors from all over the world we came to know the fact that number of artist were born in west side and presented beautiful and unique work that portrayed their thoughts regarding culture and numerous other things. Among these beautiful and talented artist Hansen is a significant name. This man was born in year 1960 in West area where the natural beauty, purity and environment was so attractive that form the early stage this boy started visioning, drawing and portraying his cultural beauty in a marvelous manner. Hansen completed his educational career and returned to homeland in 1990, but during his early days of schooling this young boy started painting in year 1969, after that he went abroad to study mechanical design as well. Later he came back to America and served this country as a technical drawing specialist. Ms Georgian was the lady who impressed Hansen and he want himself to work and serve the idea of culture through his talent and skills of painting and drawing. He has developed his own unique sense of styling which reflects his philosophical mind as well. As time passes this young boy’s skills in promoting culture were notified by numerous people and his professional career started in which he designed numerous spectacular designs in the boating industry. The concept of portraying culture in such manner was so much appreciated by people that the technique of introducing abstract and cubist was later adopted by the artist of East as well. Beside Hansen’s work numerous other artist work and thought are adopted by the people of East. Christians also played a vital role in promoting cultural values and portraying them in such a manner that it was appreciated by the entire world. And among there marvelous work the oldest and the most symbolic thing is the cross sign which is known as the sign of Christian’s faith. The idea of presenting cross sign has played a significant role in numerous other cultures as well. People from different region especially from east side have adopted it as well and defines their own meaning of this symbol. If we go through to the detail and deep knowledge of this cross then we came to know numerous facts regarding it as it was revealed that through ages and centuries people are using and following this cross sign to protect themselves from illness, to have good fortune, and to show their respect to their religion and numerous other things as well. After the great success of promoting culture is such manner numerous other artists has developed countless version of its, which include X-Shaped St. Andrews cross and the T-shaped teau-cross as well. Beside this, the people of Greek have used this symbol in order to represent the four cardinal directions as well or we can say that they tried to represent the four basic elements which include earth, wind, water and fire. Other than this, the people of India have used this symbol as well in order to show the four main directions of heavens. Similarly, the people of Africa has designed cross roads and there concept of it is that these crossroads are places where the world of living and dead meet. In addition with this, numerous Eastern artists used this shaped to promote their cultural jewelry as well. Along with above mentioned things, Eastern people have also discovered new and interesting things in Japan by following the writings of Shakespeare as they had focused the plays of him and started studying the canonical values of his theater and implement the thoughts and ideas in order to promote the cultural things. Similarly, the people of Japan also have a great history in promoting cultural things through different and unique ideas such as the monster is one of the significant thing that Japanese promotes in their culture which was actually the creation of human imagination which resemble numerous things at different points like people, other animals or well –known objects as well. (Kuncaraningrat 1985) The artist of West promote their cultural values and things by numerous ways and among them music is the major source. With the help of unique and different musical instruments they define their thoughts and ideas regarding their culture. All sort of music either rock, pop or slow all were used to promote culture. In addition with these the artist of West also launched numerous sort of games that have music like Krongcong is one of the famous and well-known musical game that was designed in a manner that the music lovers start playing them and the main focus of promoting culture with the help of music will also go on with such innovative discoveries. Similarly along with music, dance is another thing that is used in order to promote culture of West, as it is the best approach of reflecting and showing the diversification of different ethical groups that compose the entire West portion of the world. This technique of promoting culture was adopted by the artist of East as well, as this gave great opportunity to show the traditional and cultural values of one’s states. The people of West also use the source of drama and theaters in order to promote their cultural values, and this technique really works as people form all over the world came to watch such sort of drama that promotes culture and things regarding traditional values. Along with this the people of East represent the culture of West in their region by using the traditional arts things which includes paintings, sculpture and numerous sort of architecture as well. Not only this they also used literature and poetry in order to present the idea and thoughts regarding the culture and traditional values of West. For people who loved food the Eastern group facilitate them by provding and presenting the Western dishes, along with this the more powerful and source that the Eastern people used in order to represent the culture of West in the media, as there is a great number of cinemas within East and these cinemas has played a significant role in spreading every bite of cultural things and cover all the traditional values of the entire West. In previous days, this source did not work as much but at the beginning of year 1980 this platform reaches the peak and concurred the highest level as well. Beside this cinema’s role numerous Eastern artists have played a significant role in order to promote and represent the culture and traditions of West within their country and this medium of representing the culture is very much appreciated by all as in this every age group can find its own interesting things to go for. Other than this, radio network which was formed in year 1945 also played a significant role, especially after 2006 numerous radio channels are launched using Digital Audio Broadcasting and Hybrid system that are also facilitating in promoting the cultural values all over the East. But all these above mentioned approaches had a positive result till political issues do not arise. In early days if we go through the detail representation techniques of promoting and showing culture of West in East we came to know that its result is very much effective as long as it was concerned as the homogenous population things towards mass production. This multiculturalism has worked for a long time in order to show the Western European society. The people of French also liked and welcomed this sort of representation and wrote numerous theories on it and named such things as a class struggle which highlighted the real charm, beauty as well as the weakness, along with this such representation also include ethics, religion and race issues but this thought of promoting culture is no more seen due to numerous political issues. Adams 2006) As now people have the idea that political, cultural, social and economical dialogue projects are addressed but should not be exclusively shown in Muslim countries, beside this according to the political rules the training programs, information of technologies and other things should not be shown and promoted on other side rather than West as this cause great trouble to the citizens of the west. Beside this the global conflict is also one of the major reason of promoting culture and traditional things in such a way, as the people of other country did not have the actual idea or right to promote each other cultural values as by this they often show our cultural things in a wrong manner and this cause big issues. According to a survey and research numerous authors wrote things about politicians idea that they have an idea that assimilation model can’t work longer because he people who are from different state are not like us and they have different skin color, they have other religion whose rules are not applicable on us, as we are not of same group, culture, and we does not have same social and traditional values. Similarly the political rules that are governing West also have the idea that we people are from different type of population and thats why we cant work on same issue with hand in hand as these people are living in a territory which has no political representation and they wants to copy our theories and approaches by promoting our cultural and traditional values. (Adams 2006) In a nut shell, we can conclude our paper that the idea of presenting and promoting culture and traditional values of each other provide us great benefit as by this we can come to know the real concepts and ideas of each other, and this thing also facilitate us in getting new approaches as well but this concept that arises in this era that by doing so we people can face numerous difficulties and political issues is not good for both the citizens of West as well as East so we should cover up such issues and focus on the growth and development of cultural as well as other things which is a great need for all of us.

Great Expectations: Changes in the Character of Pip :: Great Expectations Essays

Changes in the Character of Pip    Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is a fascinating tale of love and fortune. The main character, Pip, is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes through the course of the book. Throughout this analysis the character, Pip will be identified and his gradual change through the story will be surveyed. The main character, Pip, is a gentle character. His traits include humbleness, kindness, and lovingness. These traits are most likely the cause of his childhood poverty. In the beginning of the story, Pip is a mild mannered little boy who goes on with his own humble life. That, though, will change as he meets Magwich, a thief and future benefactor. Pip’s kindness goes out to help the convict, Magwich when he gives food and clothing to him. Magwich tells Pip that he’ll never forget his kindness and will remember Pip always and forever. This is the beginning of Pip’s dynamic change. Throughout the novel, Great Expectations, the character, Pip gradually changes from a kind and humble character to a character that is bitter, then snobbish and finally evolves into the kind and loving character which he was at the beginning of the story. In order to make more money Pip’s uncle sends Pip to a psychotic old lady’s house named Mrs. Havisham. Mrs. Havisham is a mean and nasty character who constantly bickers at Pip and tells him of his unimportance. Pip continues to be mild mannered and respectful to Mrs. Havisham yet he begins to see that he will never get ahead in life just being nice. Mrs. Havisham uses Pip as sort of a guinea pig to take out her passion of revenge against men. She does this by using her daughter, Estella to torment Pip.   Pip’s first and only love is Estella. Estella is very mean and nasty to Pip.   Although he receives verbal abuse from Estella, he continues to like her and will not stop liking her, he sees the good inside of her and will not stop until the good comes out. In contrast to her treatment of Pip as a child when she had called him a common laboratory boy with coarse hands and thick boots, she tries to explain to him that emotion is something that she is incapable of feeling. The fact of that is evidence of his illusion, not her cruelty. Great Expectations: Changes in the Character of Pip :: Great Expectations Essays Changes in the Character of Pip    Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens is a fascinating tale of love and fortune. The main character, Pip, is a dynamic character who undergoes many changes through the course of the book. Throughout this analysis the character, Pip will be identified and his gradual change through the story will be surveyed. The main character, Pip, is a gentle character. His traits include humbleness, kindness, and lovingness. These traits are most likely the cause of his childhood poverty. In the beginning of the story, Pip is a mild mannered little boy who goes on with his own humble life. That, though, will change as he meets Magwich, a thief and future benefactor. Pip’s kindness goes out to help the convict, Magwich when he gives food and clothing to him. Magwich tells Pip that he’ll never forget his kindness and will remember Pip always and forever. This is the beginning of Pip’s dynamic change. Throughout the novel, Great Expectations, the character, Pip gradually changes from a kind and humble character to a character that is bitter, then snobbish and finally evolves into the kind and loving character which he was at the beginning of the story. In order to make more money Pip’s uncle sends Pip to a psychotic old lady’s house named Mrs. Havisham. Mrs. Havisham is a mean and nasty character who constantly bickers at Pip and tells him of his unimportance. Pip continues to be mild mannered and respectful to Mrs. Havisham yet he begins to see that he will never get ahead in life just being nice. Mrs. Havisham uses Pip as sort of a guinea pig to take out her passion of revenge against men. She does this by using her daughter, Estella to torment Pip.   Pip’s first and only love is Estella. Estella is very mean and nasty to Pip.   Although he receives verbal abuse from Estella, he continues to like her and will not stop liking her, he sees the good inside of her and will not stop until the good comes out. In contrast to her treatment of Pip as a child when she had called him a common laboratory boy with coarse hands and thick boots, she tries to explain to him that emotion is something that she is incapable of feeling. The fact of that is evidence of his illusion, not her cruelty.

Trip to Tadoba Tiger Reserve

CITY TIGERS MEETING THEIR COUNTRY COUSIN This meet began with me and my brother proceeding to Mumbai airport for our first flight to the orange city Nagpur. Soon after checking into the flight we caught with team bhpian and participant in the workshop (sachin. sri) Sachin Shrivastava. He was already in the city on official work and we caught up with our specific interests on the forum. We had a smooth flight and as guided by Dr. Abheek over the phone we met our cab come to pick us up from the airport. We found that it was drizzling in Nagpur and this dampened our spirits a bit thinking that wildlife spotting would be difficult in incessant rain. We proceeded to the starting point where we were to meet other participants from Nagpur. The point was Hotel Turning Point at Laxmi Chowk. Here Wild Cats member Mr. Sachet and the owner of Turning Point Mr. Amol greeted us warmly. Mr. Amol treated us to a sumptuous breakfast and some interesting tales of wildlife in the outskirts of Nagpur. Very soon another Wild Cat member Mr. Chinmay Deshpande joined us. Interestingly he was an active snake rescuer for Nagpur and he had a bagful of snakes to be released in the wild during our trip. Sachin was startled and a bit alarmed by the presence of so many venomous and non-venomous snakes around. We were amazed and excited and try to reassure Sachin. We had for the first time such a close encounter with snakes. Under the close guidance of Chinmay we were even able to handle a non-venomous snake the trinket snake easily. It was so beautiful to hold the snake. In our hands the snake seemed like a velvet rope. It is very sad that even before knowing much about snakes I had a preconceived fear of such beautiful creatures. Chinmay rightly explained that snakes have no emotion and if we humans maintain our distance and exercise caution and adequate precaution while interacting with them there is no reason why we cannot co-exist with the most venomous of snakes. Having said that he also explained that the most experienced of handlers have been bitten only by either their carelessness or overconfidence. In no time Doc. (Dr. Abheek Ghosh) popped in. As expected he was a bundle of energy and charged up the already excited bunch. Meeting him for the first time I have to say the moustache suits him well, like the whiskers of a wildcat. He had some news. The team from Hyderabad had missed their overnight train and had since proceeded by car. They would be meeting us directly at Tadoba. Another of the coordinator Mr. Akash Kothe also joined us. All of us wrapped up the breakfast meet and proceeded to our coach, which was with us for the entire trip. The coach had a banner of Wild Cats in the front, which was looking very apt for the occasion. As we were getting into the coach we could see our host Amol also getting into the mood and wanting to join us for the trip. However as had some unavoidable work in the city he could not join us. We bade him good-bye and proceeded to Tadoba. Sachin was getting nervous with so many snakes joining us in the coach although secure in their respective jars. We all joked this would be â€Å"SNAKES IN THE COACH† Indian version of the famous Hollywood movie† SNAKES IN THE PLANE†. This made Sachin all the more jittery and he tried to make himself comfortable as far away from the snakes as possible. But at every jerk and every pothole he would plead Chinmay to check if all the snakes were secure. The entire journey of about 5 hours due to bad roads after Jam was hardly felt due the non-stop banter amongst all of us. It was remarkable that inspite of our varying backgrounds and ages we all gelled in no time. This goes to shows that enthusiasm is infectious and knows no barrier. In the coach Doc treated us to a Audio Video documentary by Vidya Atreya on animal human conflict in Western Maharashtra and how it was affecting the leopard in particular. I had already read up some material on her work and research as mailed to us earlier by Doc. Doc also enlighted us on the work done by her on conservation and human leopard conflict management. We were so engrossed in our discussions and running short of time that we had skipped halting for lunch anywhere enroute. As we neared crossed Chandrapur we were saddened to see quarries for coal mining all around with massive heaps of spent mud lying all around like small hills. Doc informed us that although Chandrapur was one of the most polluted areas of our country due to the coalmines and thermal plants the tigers were thriving in the forests of Tadoba. We reached the Moharli Gate of Tadoba sanctuary at the stroke of four, which was also the closing time for entry into the sanctuary. At the gate the gypsies were ready waiting for us as arranged by Doc. Here we also met another of Doc's close friends Mr. Indraneel Pal and his friend Gaurav. Indraneel Pal was by profession a contractor for the Cement Mills around but by heart he was an avid animal lover. His in depth knowledge of animal behavior in general and the tiger in particular was astounding. We learnt that he was a regular visitor to Tadoba, sometimes 2-3 times a week. He was to Tadoba what Doc is to Pench. Doc had an excellent rapport with him and he too welcomed us with open arms. I was struck by his humility and passion towards the forest and its inhabitants. It was a great pleasure and privilege to spend two days in his company. By this time we also learnt that the Hyderabad group had run into heavy rains and bad weather leading to slow progress. Enroute a section of the highway was washed away and they were facing a roadblock in the detour due to some vehicle breakdown. At this rate they would not be able to make it to Tadoba before nightfall. The rest of us decide to proceed for the evening Safari. The sights and sounds of the forest pleasantly surprised city dwellers like us. Tadoba is known to all, for the healthy population of tigers within it but it was also very interesting to observe the wide variety of birds and insects within the reserve. Photos will tell the story here. We immediately spotted a small herd of sambar deer and a solitary wild boar. In some time we reached the middle (hattori) gate. As required entry formalities were being done, Doc asked his man Friday (Sanjay) to serve poha packets to all of us. By now our stomachs had begun rumbling due go hunger having skipped lunch earlier. The poha was delicious and warm in the foil pack. Apparently doc had made some phone calls from the coach as we were nearing Tadoba. Indraneel happened to tell us that in the morning just as he entered the reserve he spotted a leopard very close to the entrance gate. This heightened the excitement for us. He and doc explained to us that large predators like the tiger regularly mark the boundaries of their territory to highlight their presence to their rivals and reassure the females. And during monsoon due to washing away of their scent markings by the rain, they have to keep marking more frequently and as a result of which the chances of spotting the tiger is better. Both he and doc were very tuned to the various sounds of the jungle and could immediately alert us to calls made by the sambar and some birds as they communicated to convey the movement of the tiger/leopard. This gave us some indication of the movement of these predators at a distance. It also gave us an idea as to how difficult it was for these predators to hunt when their presence could be easily given away by the alarm call of the langur, a bird or some deer. In these surroundings we easily lost sense of time. Very soon it was getting dark and the guide informed us that it was time to head back to the exit. We were beginning to enjoy the experience and started to head back with a heavy heart. At that moment the gypsy we were traveling suddenly broke down. We got delighted thinking that this gave us a perfect excuse to justify our delay to the exit gate and experience the dusk in the forest. But this happiness did not last long as very soon another gypsy of our group that came along gave us a lift to the middle (Hattori) gate. At this point Doc â€Å"insisted† on staying with the broken down gypsy and it's driver till it could be brought till the exit point. All of us wished to take Doc's place so that we could also experience some part of the night in the jungle, but it was not to be. We wished Doc luck and proceeded to the Hattori Gate. There the officials were miffed with us for the delay. On learning of the breakdown they offered a makeshift towrope and sent this gypsy back to tow our broken down gypsy. Doc must have cursed his luck to see help coming so fast. As soon as the gypsy was towed into the Hattori gate we proceeded to the Moharli exit gate. Enroute we were hoping that the towrope snaps and we get delayed further. But alas none of that happened. In some time we reached the exit gate. The officials here were very upset, as we had arrived way beyond the closing time. Luckily Doc and Indraneel being regulars there somehow managed to pacify them, but had to offer some written explanation and pay some fine. We went to the MTDC resort with so many stories to tell each other. On the way Chinmay told us that once we settle into our rooms we need to feed the cobra on a frog, which could be easily seen croaking around, as it might be hungry. We settled in our rooms freshened up and soon got out to catch a frog using our flashlights. Sachin as expected refused to have anything to do with the snakes. Understanding his fear we left him alone. Luckily we managed to catch one very close to our room. Chinmay carefully opened the lid of the jar holding the cobra and swiftly dropped the frog down the jar and closed the lid. All this was a different experience for us. Stuff we had been seeing on Animal Planet and Discovery channels on TV back home was unfolding live in front of our eyes. Within the confines of the jar the frog started puffing itself and avoiding the cobra. The cobra was seeming to be dazed and not striking at the frog. Suddenly Bhanu observed that the snake was badly infected with maggots, which was not easily visible in the plastic jar earlier. It had raised its hood but not was striking the frog. Chinmay explained that this cobra had been rescued from a grain godown in Nagpur and the labourers might have attacked and injured the snake before calling him for the rescue. After a long time the cobra finally struck the frog and injected venom, but was not showing any signs of eating it. Chinmay immediately stated that we need to release the cobra in some safe area outside. By now Doc joined all of us. He had been meeting up with the Hyderabad group who had just arrived. He informed us that two members of they group Mel and Shiv were avid snake lovers and handlers and we could take their opinion on this subject. On seeing the condition of the cobra and in the absence of any facility to treat the snake they also suggested immediate release of the snake from captivity. They too joined us in our short walk outside the resort boundary to release the cobra. As soon as the cobra was brought out of the jar into the open it became very alert and agile and started moving swiftly to the foliage around. Before releasing the snake Mel gave us a short talk on various types of cobra found and mechanism to handle them. We all felt glad to be releasing the snake into its natural habitat. We went back to the rooms along with the Hyderabad group comprising of Rashmi, Alex, Mel and Shiv. They briefly related their ordeal to get here encountering washed away roads, roadblocks, bad roads and all. We had our brief introductions and learnt that all of them were avid trekkers and â€Å"fanatic† nature lovers. Here I wish to thank Doc again, as without his initiative we would never have met such an ensemble of participants. Over the days we were stunned with their knowledge of birds, insects and reptiles given their relatively young age. During our trip we could not find any insect or bird that they could not identify. Once back the room Mel was shocked to find the snakes stored in plastic containers. He sadly remarked that inspite of noble intentions many a times † SNAKES NEED RESCUING FROM RESCUERS â€Å". He asked Chinmay to keep some cloth bags handy whenever he proceeds for a rescue. Chinmay informed Mel that there have been some cases of snakes biting some handlers through the bags however he was not sure whether they were jute bags or the plastic woven cement bags. Mel suggested him to use canvas-lined bags. Mel was also not happy with the type of stick with the semicircle hook used for snake handling. He insisted on a lighter stick with a hook flattened and smoothened near the tip while handling snakes especially while going for the head catch. Mel offered to send a snake handling stick as described above within the next two weeks through somebody travelling to Nagpur. Chinmay was very receptive to all their ideas. He explained that inspite of all his efforts he was unable to get any formal training on handling snakes in NAGPUR. Whatever he learnt had been by watching some other handlers rescuing snakes and learning on the job while rescuing snakes because of his love for snakes. Mel opened the jar having the trinket snake and explained that the snake was molting (shedding its skin). This could be seen by the cloudy nature of its eyes. We had seen it many nature channels on TV but seeing this so close was an altogether different experience. He explained that the peculiar ornamental pattern (like a necklace) on its scales gave it the name of trinket snake. It was a fast snake but non venomous. The next snake he removed was the sand boa. He explained that it was a constrictor similar to the python which kill they prey by constriction and are non venomous. It was closely related to the red sand boa, which is also called, a two-headed snake as its tail also resembles it head in shape and texture. Sadly these are being hunted by poachers for their skin, which commands a price of nearly a lac of rupees in the black market. The next snake was the checkered keel back which Mel explained spends most of its time in or near fresh water lakes or rivers and feeds mainly on small fishes and water frogs. It is a non venomous but very aggressive snake and will not hesitate to strike at the slightest provocation. As it was an extremely fast moving snake Mel wisely did not open it within the room. The next snake was the Russells Viper. This too was handled from within the jar as it was one of the most deadly and fast striking snake found in India, with a strike speed of two bites per second and which along with the saw scaled viper was responsible for most of the snake bite related deaths in India. We were glad that this too was observed from the confines of the jar and not in the open. The next were the three rat snakes which were confined in a 20 lit. Bisleri jar. Struggling to get them out Mel explained that it was not advisable to store them in plastic containers as they were not suitable for the snakes and snakes at times inadvertently hurt themselves while struggling in them. Using a swiss knife he cut open the neck of the jar and got one of them out. The rat snake though non-venomous was visibly irritated and started swinging wildly. Shiv and Chinmay were helping Mel all through. They asked the resort staff to get some gunny bags for these snakes. The resort staff managed to get some bags but they were torn in places. Mel and Chinmay selected one of the bags, which appeared reasonably better than the rest and slowly got the rat snake into the bag. For the second snake Mel demonstrated the technique of placing the bag with a round PVC pipe at the neck close to the snake. The snake immediately darted into this opening believing it to be a dark hole or burrow. When all the three rat snakes were securely bagged Alex and Chinmay decided to release the snakes the next day during daylight further away from the resort near the buffer zone. After this the Hyderabad group took leave to freshen up and relax for a short while before meeting up for dinner at 10:00. Rest of us assembled at the other room, where Doc requested Akash to set up the projector and laptop for the audiovisual presentation on photography. Akash who is also a professor in an engineering college in Nagpur handled this session. His command over the subject and the simplicity in explanation of various terms used in photography had us bowled over. Every basic terminology right from Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO to Advanced image processing techniques was explained to us with live examples. Photos clicked by him and others were discussed and flaws analyzed and remedies discussed. Just as a doctor goes through an X-ray or Ecg report, Akash explained on how to study a photo through its histogram. The basics like composition of image and focusing of the image were explained in detail. Akash then went on to explain further how the processing of images is done using advanced software like photoshop elements and lightroom. â€Å"Cloning† of a different kind for image correction especially backgrounds was shown by live examples by Akash working on his laptop on images as he was giving the presentation. Akash made an important remark that only after clicking thousands of photographs does a photographer realize his shortcomings as he goes through them. He asked us to develop strong basic concepts and hone and polish our skills by clicking many pictures and analyzing them with above points in mind. We all mentally made up our minds to save up for a decent camera and gradually invest in good lenses to help us pursue this hobby in earnest. All those of us who have followed Doc's threads in various forums know him to be an excellent photographer and he too interspersed this session with his valuable insights from time to time. I would not be wrong if I said that this one session opened my eyes to photography more than ever before. Again thanks to Doc we were able to experience the â€Å"Akash Effect. † Here again we wanted to continue forever but were getting repeated calls from the restaurant staff calling us for dinner. We reluctantly took a break for Dinner with Akash promising to continue the next day after the morning Safari. We all assembled in the dining area for dinner. Dinner obviously was of limited variety but excellent quality. With our bellies full we lazily ambled to our rooms. Sachet lazily unlocked the door to the room and gave a sudden gasp. Akash who was blindly following him was startled and started rubbing his eyes. The snakes, which were so securely kept a little while back, were roaming freely in the room. Chinmay immediately took charge and grabbed one of the rat snakes and observed that the gunny bag was not very strong and that the rat snakes had made a way out through them. By now Alex and Shiv also joined Chinmay to locate the missing snakes. They found the second one in the bathroom with no signs of the third. The third one was missing. This made all of nervous and Sachin who was at a distance all this while became all the more jittery. Alex, Shiv and Chinmay made a thorough search of the entire room and declared it to be â€Å"snake free†. The two snakes were placed in the relatively clean and empty dustbin provided in the room with some weight on the lid to prevent them getting away again. The third rat snake was a juvenile and Chinmay and Alex opined that it might have slipped through the narrow opening below the door and the floor or slid out as Sachet nonchalantly opened the door. Doc asked us to wind up and go to bed, as we were booked for any early morning 6 am Safari and we would have to get up at 5 am to be at the gate on time. Doc also informed us three more WildCat members Sanket, Rahul and our host Amol at Turning Point had left Nagpur for Tadoba in Doc’s gypsy and they too would be joining us for the morning Safari. All of us had our own theories on the missing snake and Akash and Sachet were not comfortable to sleep in the room with the missing snake. So Akash, Chinmay and Sachet trooped into our room. With a snake loose Sachin declared that he would not be sleeping on the floor. We laughingly conceded and made ourselves comfortable on the extra beds and were fast asleep in no time. As soon as the alarm bell went off at 5 am Sachin started calling out to all to get up. After a light banter of â€Å"Pehle Aap† we quickly got to our feet and freshened up quickly. By now we caught up with Amol, Rahul and Sanket who had reached at 1:30 in the night with the gypsy giving some problem on the way and continuous rain all through the route. They couldn’t believe it when they learnt they learnt that they had been sleeping in the room with the missing snake. On seeing the video of the recapture of the escaped snakes shot by Akash and seeing the two rat snakes in the dustbin they started rubbing their eyes in disbelief. They were shocked that they had slept so peacefully in the room with a missing snake and two snakes lying the dustbin. Pulling their legs we walked to the resort gate where Indraneel Pal and his friend Gaurav were waiting for us. Here we got to the gypsy being tastefully rebuilt by Doc with sound advice from forum members. The middle and last row of seats were adequately pushed back giving ample legroom and maneuverability to people seated in them with their cameras. Doc informed that some work on providing proper vibration free camera mounts was still to be done. Once completed no doubt this would be an ideal vehicle for the jungle photographer. In the steady drizzle we got into the gypsies and proceeded to the Moharli gate. Due to the rains our cameras were packed up and we were wary to expose them to moisture. We entered the gates to be once again greeted by the early morning sights and smell of rain soil foliage and forest floor. As the gypsy drove into the forest the rain and the cold wind was beating against our faces. It was an experience to look out for sightings in these circumstances. As we were driving past at a steady speed our guide suddenly motioned to the driver to stop and head back for a few metres. On coming back a few metres he pointed to his right about 50 yards away and all we could see was a brown termite mound or anthill. But the guide insisted that he has never observed a mound at this place all these days. So to clear matters Doc and Indraneel took out their cameras with high power lenses to zoom and get a sharper view. They both softly remarked that it was a â€Å"tiger†. They motioned us to be dead calm and we quietly removed our cameras and focused on the tiger. On zooming it was clear that we were privileged to witness a tiger so well camouflaged in the Indian forest. In a few moments the tiger raised its head and started licking its hind legs. By this time the second gypsy in our group joined us and they too enjoyed the spectacle. The third vehicle had gone ahead and due to no mobile network we were unable to inform them of the sighting. Indraneel informed us that this tiger was the â€Å"Baghdo Male† who was very active in this part of the reserve. Indraneel was also the first person to have photographically captured this particular tiger some time back. Indraneel recounted the incident of having clicked this particular after it had a heavy meal of a gaur. In Indraneel’s words as the tiger got up after a heavy meal its belly was so full that it was almost scraping the floor as it walked. We were in awe as he spoke of the experience. In the meantime the tiger got up and reversed its position and nonchalantly surveyed the clearing around it. In a short while the tiger got up once again and started walking diagonally behind us towards the road. In no time we lost sight of the tiger as it disappeared into the thick foliage. We backed up our vehicles a couple of metres behind hoping to catch the tiger as it steps onto the road. We waited at that spot trying to gauge the movement of the tiger, looking anxiously in all directions in perfect silence. Suddenly Indraneel spotted the tiger about thirty feet behind emerging out of the bushes. Due to the rain we had packed the cameras and scrambled to get them in position. But Doc and Indraneel managed to capture some amazing photographs of the tiger looking directly at us. This sight of the tiger turning to look towards us will remain with me forever. The majestic head on broad shoulders was a sight to behold. At this very moment the driver of the second gypsy eager to give its occupants at better shot with the camera backed up suddenly and with a loud roar of the engine. This sudden noise and movement disturbed the tiger, which swiftly crossed the road behind us and entered into the foliage on the other side. We reprimanded the driver for his stupidity but it was too late. Doc and Indraneel remarked that they were pretty sure that if the tiger was not disturbed so abruptly it would have calmly walked down the road for some distance before slipping back into the forest giving us ample opportunity to observe and photograph this magnificent animal. We waited at this spot for some time reminiscing on the events that had unfolded some moments before us. Soon we heard the sambar call at some distance indicating that the tiger was steadily moving deeper into the forest. Doc informed us that during the monsoon only central tarred road was open for the safari and the mud roads going into the forest at intermittent distances were closed for the safari. This was done to minimize disturbance to animals and prevent vehicles getting stuck in the slush on these mud roads inside the forest. We backed up further across a small bridge over a stream in the forest hoping to catch some signs of the tiger if it returned back to the road. As there was no indications whatsoever we proceeded ahead to observe the rest of the forest. As we were on our way Bhanu suddenly exclaimed â€Å"tiger†. Out driver quickly backed up again but Bhanu just managed to see the tiger slip into the dense forest before the rest of us could spot it. We learnt that unless the tiger is in the open or moving in the forest along the road it was next to impossible to spot a tiger lying motionless in the bamboo clusters for an untrained eye. The tiger can spot you as you pass through its territory but there is no guarantee that you can spot it if it does not want its presence to be felt. With this lesson learnt we proceeded to explore the remainder of the forest enjoying the other flora and fauna. At the hattori gate Doc and Indraneel were mobbed by other tourists visiting the forest asking for the glimpse of the elusive king of the jungle captured by their lenses. We were basking in the adulation and envy of other tourists for having such a close sighting of the tiger, while the real hero had disappeared deep in to the jungle oblivious to the excitement caused by his sighting. We slowly observed the rest of the forest spotting some birds on the way. The snaps shared here will tell the rest of the story. But for me the sighting of the tiger overshadowed everything else. Even now if I close my eyes I can see the tiger looking right at me. I envied Doc and Indraneel for having so many sightings of the tiger. I for one can only marvel at its being and cannot imagine how another human can think of poaching the tiger. Do their hands not tremble as they perpetrate this dastardly act. During this trip Bhanu remarked that the human being is the most dangerous animal on the planet. This short sentence summed up everything that needs to be done for conservation. With this experience we headed back to the resort. While exiting we learnt that in the evenings we could opt for a one hour Safari over elephant back in the evening. However there was place for only 3 on the elephant back. Doc explained that no bookings for evening jeep safari had been made owing to the interactive session on tiger conservation planned in the schedule and so some of us opt for this. To make matters interesting Doc suggested drawing of lots after lunch to decide on the lucky three. Suddenly Amol remarked that if chicken was made available and if he were given access to the kitchen he would love prepare the main dish for the evening. All those who had tasted food at his hands began vouching on his skill and we all were enthused by his offer. Luckily Doc informed that another of his friend Monali from Nagpur joining us for a day. And as we spoke a vehicle was on its way to Chandrapur bus stand where she would be reaching from Nagpur anytime. Doc immediately arranged for the driver to get the required quantity of chicken from Chandrapur. After a light breakfast and tea we headed back to the rooms. We shared our experiences and relaxed for a while. In some time we proceeded for lunch and decided to release the snakes with us a little while later. While having lunch we all met up with Monali who had just reached some time back. But she was looking fresh and enthusiastic. We had our round of introductions once again and she joined us for lunch. After lunch some of us had a light nap. While leaving Nagpur we noticed that Doc had loaded some Solar Lamps into the coach. Doc had explained that these solar lamps were to be distributed to the villagers living inside the reserve. While we had a nap, Doc distributed these lamps and returned. Fresh after a short nap we assembled for the next agenda â€Å"release of snakes† into the wild. We were looking forward to this once in a lifetime experience with great excitement. In a group we trooped towards the buffer area of the forest to release these snakes. The interesting part was that Shiv, Chinmay and Mel delicately handled these snakes and practically showed us how to handle these snakes. One by one we gained confidence and started handling the non-venomous snakes like the trinket, rat snake and the sand boa. In the daylight we could easily observe and marvel at the distinct patterns and colorations of the snakes. Though visually the snakes appeared to be slimy and greasy it was the texture of their skin/scales that gave that effect. On the contrary these snakes were very smooth to hold. Mel, Chinmay and Shiv demonstrated on how to handle the snake so that it does not feel threatened or alarmed. Most of us used the time available to click snaps and videos of this entire exercise. These snakes were released into the trees and tall grasses around. In no time these snakes vanished out of our eyesight. Next Mel got the checkered keel back out of the jar. No wonder he called it fast snake. This snake sped away in literally leaps and bounds. Mel, who tried to hold it momentarily to show us the snake before letting it free, got bitten in the little finger. No danger as the snake was non venomous. We all were amazed at the speed of this snake. Finally we all stepped back as Chinmay cautiously got the most dreaded russel’s viper out. Mel explained that luckily for us the viper was in a docile mood and was not agitated at all. The head of this viper was flattened, triangular and distinct from the neck. The snout was blunt, rounded and raised. The body was stout, the cross-section of which was rounded to cylindrical. Mel explained that this was a snake to be really fearful of due to its unusually large fangs that deliver copious amounts of venom leading to extreme swelling at the site of the bite, terrible damage to the tissue and severe internal bleeding within minutes of the bite. It was one of the species responsible for causing the most snakebite cases and deaths in the India due to various factors such as its frequent occurrence in places where humans are occupied and the potency of its venom. Chinmay further explained that the Russel’s viper was generally very slow and sluggish unless pushed beyond a certain limit, after which they become aggressive and when threatened they form a series of S-loops, raise the first third of the body and produce a hiss that is supposedly louder than that of any other snake resembling the sound of the pressure cooker. This particular snake was moving very slowly and gave ample time for all of us to click snaps and videos. After satisfying our curiosity and anxiety Chinmay carefully released the snake into some thick bushes. After completing this exercise we proceeded back to the room. Before proceeding with the draw of lots for the elephant safari Doc suggested we have the interactive session on tiger-human conflict areas and forest conservation in general. The session began with the audio-visual presentation on tiger conservation in India. The documentary was very well made and all of us were glued to this presentation. After the sighting the grandeur of the tiger roaming freely in the forest in the morning we were really pained to see the plight of the tiger in the various forests of the country. The efforts being made towards conservation were feeble in the face of rapid deforestation and rampant habitat destruction by us humans. Whatever was left thereafter was being wiped out by sustained pressure of influential poachers. While Akash was handling the presentation Doc used to interject whenever he recollected a related incident or had something relevant to add to the presentation. As an attentive audience we too had our share of questions and remarks. Doc informed that very recently even in Tadoba the forest officials had found metal clamps and wire traps carefully laid out by poachers to trap the tiger. He also remarked that the tourist movement in the monsoon however restricted was a deterrent to these poachers who would otherwise have had a free run in the forest. He cited the recent case of the mysterious death of a popular tiger named circuit in the Moharli area of the reserve. Akash sadly remarked that during his earlier visit to Tadoba he had happened to spot Circuit active and healthy close to the buffer area just one day prior to his mysterious death. Doc informed us that wildlife enthusiasts like him were trying to use the RTI tool to find the actual cause of death of Circuit. They were trying to keep up sustained pressure so that any more tigers do not meet the same fate. Doc informed us that very recently the local DFO who was an avid wildlife enthusiast and photographer was abruptly transferred due to pressures from his superiors. Slowly we could understand the trying circumstances in which Doc and his friends were operating. Shiv and Mel also highlighted the plight of the Srisailam tiger reserve in Andhra Pradesh with a total area of 3,600 sq. ms. In 1983 there were 40 tigers and the habitat suffered severely thereafter due to high frequency of poaching, grazing, fires, tree and bamboo exploitation. Today they remarked that the tiger is almost extinct from this reserve. The presence of armed extremists in this forest is a serious problem to the effective management of this area and the tigers. The subordinate staffs are scare d to move freely in the interior and little communication exists. Doc also highlighted the frequent disregard and violations of the forest act by officials under pressure from superiors and politicians. Doc cited having himself sighted such instances in Pench when politicians with their red beacon official vehicles entering the reserve in the dead of the night in gross violation of the wildlife act. When Doc tried to investigate the matter further he received an official letter from the forest officials of Pench threatening his entry into the reserve in future on flimsy grounds. Further he cited the case of the accidental death of the jhurjhura tigress in the famous Bandhavgarh reserve in Madhya Pradesh. The tigress was a resident, breeding animal at ‘Jhurjhura’ (Tala Range), which forms part of the core/ critical tiger habitat. The tigress, alongwith its 3 cubs (around 6 months old) had been intensively photographed/ seen/ monitored by the park management and visitors. The research team from the Wildlife Institute of India in its data collection process using camera traps has also captured the said tigress. According to preliminary reports from the tiger reserve, a vehicle belonging to the state’s PWD minister Nagendra Singh’s son hit the tigress. But as always with such incidents in our country cover-up had begun at a frantic case. However Doc was hopeful of some justice as wildlife activists from around the country were actively following the case. Notable among them was activist Shehla Masood from Bhopal who had filed numerous RTI applications against top forest officers, senior police officials and influential politicians involved in the cover-up. Very sadly today as I write this barely two days after our meet I read the morning papers that this very lady has been shot dead outside her house as she got into the car. As there have been no eye-witnesses so far the local police have been so callous to even consider it to be a case of suicide. This incident really brought a lump in my throat just imagining the value of human life to such individuals and we are expecting them to conserve wildlife in the forests. Coming back to our session. Doc then asked us to spread awareness of conservation amongst our friends, relatives and acquaintances. An important idea suggested by him was to ask anyone visiting such reserves to click frontal and side profiles of the tiger whenever possible as seen the picture. Each tiger has a distinct pattern of stripes and they help in identification of the tiger. If a visitor shares such pictures with dedicated tiger conservationists like Doc in Pench and Tadoba then an accurate database of tigers and their movement could be maintained more effectively rather than just relying on unreliable pug-marks of the tigers. Doc informed that he had helped to provide a computer with facility of reading memory cards at Pench to the forest officials at the main gate so that they could collect similar data from the tourists’ cameras. After the presentation was over Doc informed us that he had got made some T-shirts for sale with the image of the tiger printed and he was using the proceeds of the sale towards procuring essentials like solar lamps for the villagers in the forest. Appreciating the noble cause we gladly picked up these t-shirts as a souvenir of the trip for our family back home. By now it was already dinnertime. Interestingly in the heat of the presentation and our involvement in the subject everyone forgot the draw of lots for the elephant safari in the evening. We were so involved in the presentation that none of us missed the elephant safari that evening. We also did not realize that somewhere in between Amol had quietly slipped away to the kitchen to get the dinner ready as promised. As the main course was getting ready he had swiftly managed to get the some starters ready also. Just as the presentation on conservation got over Amol entered the room with starters in hand. Akash started with the balance of the earlier days photography session. As we were munching on the starters our eyes and mind were imbibing the tips on photography. By the time the photography session was over we were satiated. Doc once again reminded us on the early morning safari the next day. We quickly proceeded for dinner. The dinner prepared by Amol was truly relishing. All of us were left licking our fingers and smacking our lips. We all thanked Amol profusely for this unexpected treat and retreated back to the rooms. With our bellies full we were fast asleep as soon as we hit the beds and snoring away. We were up again at the crack of dawn and quickly assembled into the gypsies at the gate. Although we were attracted to this programme with the prospect of seeing the tiger there is truly so much more to be seen in the forest. Even some of the trees seen inside the reserve are not regularly seen outside. Although we could not spot the tiger for ourselves this time we learnt that another vehicle entering the forest after us sighted a tiger. We were pleased on the healthy population of tiger in the reserve. The guide with us also informed us that even the buffer area had a healthy population of tiger. Doc told us that there was a proposal to declare the area we were presently wandering about as the core and declare out of bounds for tourists and allow the tourists only in the buffer area after proper relocation of villagers was done. We were glad for the animals provided adequate precautions were taken to keep the poachers also at bay. Today we also spotted a troop of langur monkeys and a solitary deer. On our way back we spotted a dead serpent eagle lying by the side of the road with its wings spread out as though just about to fly. There was a small wound by the side of its neck but we were clueless. We managed to spot the mahouts rounding up the elephants let loose in the forest at night to graze. As Sachin had to leave early Doc had requested us to wind up the morning safari early so that we could all proceed to Nagpur earlier than scheduled. Although not excited with the prospect we grudgingly agreed. Casting our last glances at the expanses of the Tadoba forest for this trip we exited the Moharli gate. Thereafter we wrapped up our breakfast and proceeded to pack our bags for the return to Nagpur. We bid goodbye to our four friends Rashmi, Alex, Shiv and Mel and hoped to keep in touch with them in future. They were also leaving for Hyderabad by noon. We got into our coaches for the ride back to Nagpur. Bye now the gelling of the group was complete and there was non stop banter right through. Akash the master photographer was compiling a database of all the images to be consolidated and shared later on. By the time we reached Nagpur our cheeks and stomachs were aching by the nonstop laughter. We dropped Sachin at the airport and bid him bye. The rest of us proceeded to doc’s residence. We all said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch and went our respective ways. Amol and Rahul had their bikes parked there and left after goodbyes. Doc also changed gear from a nature lover to a cardiologist and proceeded to the hospital with Akash and Monali. As we had some time Sanket offered to accompany us to Nagpur city (market area) where we could spend couple of hours till our flight time. Doc had transferred our bags to his car and asked us to collect the same on the way to the airport. Thanks to Doc we were able to explore Nagpur â€Å"handsfree†. At the city centre we bid goodbye to Sanket. He too was a budding photographer and had shared many tips with us. After spending some time in the city centre we noticed that we hadn’t had a shave in the last 2 days so decided to have a decent shave and head massage. In no time we were done and we proceeded to Doc’s hospital. We collected our luggage, bid our final goodbyes and proceeded to the airport. As the flight took off we carried with us the sweet smell of the jungle, remarkable sights of the wildlife and fond memories of the people we had met and bonded so well with over the past 3 days. This write-up is dedicated to all these wonderful people and the unforgettable Baghdo.

Osmosis Internal Assessment – Biology Higher Level

| The effect of salinity on osmosis of solanum tuberosum L. (potatoes)| Biology HL Internal Assessment – Year 10| | Teresa Nguyen| | Table of Contents 1 DESIGN2 1. 1 Defining the problem2 FOCUS QUESTION2 HYPOTHESIS2 BACKGROUND INFORMATION2 INVESTIGATION VARIABLES3 1. 2 Controlling Variables3 TREATMENT OF THE CONTROLLED VARIABLES3 CONTROL EXPERIMENT4 1. 3 Experimental Method4 MATERIALS4 RISK ASSESSMENT5 METHOD5 2 DATA COLLECTION and PROCESSING7 2. 1 Recording Raw data7 QUANTITATIVE RAW DATA7 QUALITATIVE RAW DATA7 2. 2 Processing Raw Data8 Processed Data Table9 3 Conclusions and Evaluation11 3. 1 Conclusion11CONCLUSION STATEMENT11 CONCLUSION EXPLANATION11 3. 2 Evaluation Procedures12 RELIABLITY12 LIMITATIONS/WEAKNESSES/ERROR IN LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS13 3. 3 Improving the Investigation14 MODIFICATION TO THE EXPERIMENT14 Bibliography15 Appendixes16 Appendix A – Risk Assessment16 Appendix B – Turnitin Receipt19 Appendix C – Journal19 1 DESIGN 1. 1 Defining t he problem FOCUS QUESTION What is the effect of osmosis on the mass (g) of solanum tuberosum L. (potatoes) after duration of 24 hours in varying concentration levels (2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%) of sodium chloride (table salt)? HYPOTHESIS Solanum tuberosum L. inal masses will decline as the concentration (2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%) of sodium chloride increases. Potato slices placed in distilled water will have higher mass percentage due to the cells becoming turgid. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Diffusion is the movement of molecules from a hypertonic (high concentration solute) to the hypotonic (low concentration of solute). There are different types of diffusion one of which is osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water molecules through a semipermeable membrane that allows only smaller molecules such as water to pass through and prevent larger molecules to enter such as glucose or sodium chloride. Bozeman Biology, 2012) Within osmosis comparison between the different solutions standard term inology are used to describe the differences such as Isotonic, hypertonic and hypotonic as mentioned earlier. Isotonic is when the solution has equal concentration of solutes. Hypertonic is when the solution has concentration of the solute. In contrast, hypotonic is when the solution has lower concentration of the solute. (Bowen, 2002) Plant cells are known to have strong cell walls that when osmosis allows water to be taken up it swells. However, to prevent the cell from bursting the cells become turgid.The pressure within the cell rises and gradually the internal pressure has increased to an extent which even water molecules cannot enter. (Nigel D Purchon, 2012) This is convenient for plants as they do not have skeletons, thus their leaves and stems are supported by the pressure of the water. Loss of water by osmosis causes the plant to become flaccid which the plasma membrane withers from the cell wall. (BBC, 2012) INVESTIGATION VARIABLES TABLE 1 – Practical Investigation Variables Type of Variable| Identified Variable | Independent | The varied concentration level of Sodium Chloride (2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%). Dependent | The differentiation of masses of the different potato pieces (final – initial mass) in each Sodium Chloride concentrations (2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%) after 24 hours. | Controlled| Each trial is from the same potato. The quantity of solution given in each trial. The size of potato slices. Source of biological material. Potato pieces in distilled water. The duration of the investigation. The size of the test tubes. | Uncontrolled | Rate of osmosis. The initial salt concentration in the potato. Change in room temperature. | 1. 2 Controlling Variables TREATMENT OF THE CONTROLLED VARIABLESTABLE 2: Control Treatment of Variable Control Variables | Treatment | Each trial is from the same potato. | Each trial used pieces of potatoes from the same source. Thus, limits the variation of sources used. | The quantity of solution given in each trial. | Every test tube contained 25cm3 of solution. | The size of potato slices. | All potato pieces used were cut to a size of 2 cm in length. | The duration of the investigation. | All the trials were conducted in the same time duration of 24 hours. | Source of biological material. | All sources (potatoes) were purchased from the same producer. | The size of the test tubes. All trials used the same sized large test tubes. | CONTROL EXPERIMENT The control of this investigation is the potato pieces placed in distilled water over 24 hours. By being left in distilled water allows the no contamination of the unknown substances or sodium chloride to affect the osmosis process within the potato cells. According to theory, the potato slices in distilled water should increase in mass as the osmosis process would allow water to move through the semipermeable membrane of the potato cells. This control variable will allow the comparison of the masses of the potato pieces in sodium chl oride.Thus, revealing the effects of saline substances in plant osmosis. 1. 3 Experimental Method MATERIALS TABLE 3: List of apparatus Apparatus Required | Quantity Required | solanum tuberosum L. (Potatoes) | 1 Bud| Cork Borer| 1 | Fat Test tubes| 30| Sodium Chloride solution (2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25% )| 200cm3 (25cm3 per test tube)| Marker | 1| Paper towel roll| 1| Distilled Water| 200cm3 (25cm3 per test tube)| Ruler (30cm)| 1 | Electronic Scales ( ±Distilled Water(0. 00)1g)| 1 | Weigh Tray (70cm3) | 1| Tweezers | 1| Test tube stand (for 40 test tubes)| 1| RISK ASSESSMENT Refer to appendix. METHOD 1.Collect required apparatus. 2. Label five test tubes Distilled Water and place in one column in the test tube stand. 3. Repeat step 2 for 2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%. Place them side-by-side in chronological order. Each row is now the number of trials. Label all the test tubes in the first row â€Å"1† then repeat with the other rows with, 2, 3, 4, and 5. 4. Set up the scale. 5. Cut the potato with the cork borer and use the metal rod with to push the potato onto a piece of paper towel. Using the ruler measure cut the pieces into 2cm. 6. Place the weigh tray on the scale then press â€Å"Tare†. Place the potato piece on the scales.Record results for ‘Initial Mass’. Repeat for every piece of potato. 7. Repeat step 6 and 7 for all the potatoes. 8. Pour 25cm3 of distilled water into each of the Distilled Water labelled test tubes. 9. Pour 25cm3 of 2% solution into each of the 2% labelled test tubes. 10. Repeat step 8 for 10%, 15%, 20% and 25%. 11. Place one piece of potato into a test tube with distilled water. Repeat using potato pieces from the same pile for the other trials. 12. Repeat step 12 with 2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%. 13. Leave for 24 hours. 14. Record observations. 15. Place the weigh tray on the scale then press â€Å"Tare†. 16.Use tweezers to remove the potato piece from a â€Å"distilled test tube† and place it on the weigh tray. Record the mass for ‘Final Mass’. 17. Repeat step 16 before weighing each piece of potato. 18. Repeat step 17 for the rest of the trials and for 2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%. Diagram 1: Experimental Set-up 2 DATA COLLECTION and PROCESSING 2. 1 Recording Raw data QUANTITATIVE RAW DATA Table 4: Raw Data of Potato Pieces’ masses ( ±0. 001g) after 24 hours in Various Sodium Chloride Solutions Trials | Concentrations ( ±0. 5%)| Initial Mass ( ±0. 001g)| Final Mass ( ±0. 001g)| 1| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 71| 1. 387| | 2. 0| 1. 181| 0. 885| | 5. 0| 1. 091| 0. 877| | 10. 0| 1. 196| 1. 058| | 20. 0| 1. 149| 1. 054| | 25. 0| 1. 094| 0. 995| 2| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 258| 1. 453| | 2. 0| 1. 160| 0. 805| | 5. 0| 1. 158| 0. 899| | 10. 0| 1. 186| 1. 002| | 20. 0| 1. 243| 1. 085| | 25. 0| 1. 166| 1. 060| 3| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 135| 1. 314| | 2. 0| 1. 254| 0. 856| | 5. 0| 1. 244| 1. 041| | 10. 0| 1. 079| 0. 936| | 20. 0| 1. 244| 1. 047| | 25. 0| 1. 109| 0. 942| 4| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 176| 1. 323| | 2. 0| 1. 247| 0. 902| | 5. 0| 1. 260| 1. 034| | 10. 0| 1. 225| 0. 992| 20. 0| 1. 160| 1. 021| | 25. 0| 1. 267| 1. 102| 5| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 151| 1. 345| | 2. 0| 1. 263| 0. 986| | 5. 0| 1. 173| 0. 894| | 10. 0| 1. 207| 1. 024| | 20. 0| 1. 163| 1. 017| | 25. 0| 1. 165| 1. 068| QUALITATIVE RAW DATA During the investigation it was noted the potato pieces were tinged with yellow and had firm textures to them. After the twenty four hours the texture of the potato pieces had changed from firm to mushy. Also, there was a drastic change in the physical appearance of the potato pieces from a fully yellow tinged to partially brown. Potato pieces in 2% were the ushiest and were darkest in colour. As the concentration of Sodium Chloride increased the changes of the brown colouring and mushiness decreased. However, the control remained firm and did not go mushy or change in colour. This chan ge in colour could be due to decay of the potato tissues as more and more cells become hypertonic. Trial 1, 25% – Visible physical change in appearance from yellow to brown Trial 1, 25% – Visible physical change in appearance from yellow to brown 2. 2 Processing Raw Data Table 5: Statistical Processing Calculations | Formulae| Solution| Calculation| Results (g)|Mass Changed ( ±0. 001g)| Final Mass- Initial Mass=Mass Changed| Distilled Water – 0. 00% (Control) Trial 1| 1. 387g-1. 171g=0. 216g| 2. 36g| Mean ( ±0. 001g)| x =X n mean=(Sum of all the products)(Number of prouducts)| Distilled Water – 0. 00% (Control)| 0. 186g=0. 216g+0. 195g+0. 179g+0. 147g+0. 194g5| 0. 186g| Standard Deviation ( ±0. 001g)| s = x- x2 n-1 Standard Deviation=Sum of (each value-mean)2Number of values-1| Distilled Water – 0. 00% (Control)| 0. 026g= (0. 216-0. 186)2+(0. 195-0. 186)2+(0. 179-0. 186)2(0. 147-0. 186)2+(0. 194-0. 186)25-1 | 0. 026g| Percentage Change| Mass Changed Initial Mass? 00=percentage change| Distilled Water – 0. 00% (Control) Trial 1| 0. 2161. 171? 18. 4%| 18. 4%| Processed Data Table Table 6: The Differences between the Initial Mass (g), Final Mass (g) of the Potato Pieces after 24 hours in Sodium Chloride Solution Trials | Concentrations ( ± 0. 05%) | Initial Mass ( ±0. 001g)| Final Mass( ±0. 001g)| Changes in Mass( ±0. 002g)| Percentage Change (0. 02%)| 1| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 171| 1. 387| 0. 216| 18. 45| | 2. 0| 1. 181| 0. 885| -0. 296| -25. 06| | 5. 0| 1. 091| 0. 877| -0. 214| -19. 62| | 10. 0| 1. 196| 1. 058| -0. 138| -11. 54| | 20. 0| 1. 49| 1. 054| -0. 095| -8. 27| | 25. 0| 1. 094| 0. 995| -0. 099| -9. 05| 2| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 258| 1. 453| 0. 195| 15. 50| | 2. 0| 1. 160| 0. 805| -0. 355| -30. 60| | 5. 0| 1. 158| 0. 899| -0. 259| -22. 37| | 10. 0| 1. 186| 1. 002| -0. 184| -15. 51| | 20. 0| 1. 243| 1. 085| -0. 158| -12. 71| | 25. 0| 1. 166| 1. 060| -0. 106| -9. 09| 3| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 135| 1. 314| 0. 179| 15. 77| | 2. 0| 1. 254| 0. 856| -0. 398| -31. 74| | 5. 0| 1. 244| 1. 041| -0. 203| -16. 32| | 10. 0| 1. 079| 0. 936| -0. 143| -13. 25| | 20. 0| 1. 244| 1. 047| -0. 197| -15. 84| | 25. | 1. 109| 0. 942| -0. 167| -15. 06| 4| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 176| 1. 323| 0. 147| 12. 50| | 2. 0| 1. 247| 0. 902| -0. 345| -27. 67| | 5. 0| 1. 260| 1. 034| -0. 226| -17. 94| | 10. 0| 1. 225| 0. 992| -0. 233| -19. 02| | 20. 0| 1. 160| 1. 021| -0. 139| -11. 98| | 25. 0| 1. 267| 1. 102| -0. 165| -13. 02| 5| Distilled Water(0. 0) CONTROL| 1. 151| 1. 345| 0. 194| 16. 85| | 2. 0| 1. 263| 0. 986| -0. 277| -21. 93| | 5. 0| 1. 173| 0. 894| -0. 279| -23. 79| | 10. 0| 1. 207| 1. 024| -0. 183| -15. 16| | 20. 0| 1. 163| 1. 017| -0. 146| -12. 55| | 25. 0| 1. 165| 1. 068| -0. 097| -8. 33|Table 7: Average percentage masses of Sodium Chloride Solutions ( ±0. 5%) and Distilled Water Trials| Distilled Water (Control)| 2. 0%| 5. 0%| 10. 0%| 20. 0%| 25. 0%| 1| 18. 45| -25. 06| -19. 62| -11. 54| -8. 27| -9. 05| 2| 15. 50| -30. 60| -22. 37| -15. 51| -12. 71| -9. 09| 3| 15. 77| -31. 74| -16. 32| -13. 25| -15. 84| -15. 06| 4| 12. 50| -27. 67| -17. 94| -19. 02| -11. 98| -13. 02| 5| 16. 85| -23. 79| -23. 79| -15. 16| -12. 55| -8. 33| Mean| 15. 81| -27. 77| -20. 00| -14. 90| -12. 27| -10. 91| Trials| Distilled Water (Control)| 2. 0%| 5. 0%| 10. 0%| 20. 0%| 25. 0%| 1| 0. 216| -0. 296| -0. 214| -0. 38| -0. 095| -0. 099| 2| 0. 195| -0. 355| -0. 259| -0. 184| -0. 158| -0. 106| 3| 0. 179| -0. 398| -0. 203| -0. 143| -0. 197| -0. 167| 4| 0. 147| -0. 345| -0. 226| -0. 233| -0. 139| -0. 165| 5| 0. 194| -0. 277| -0. 279| -0. 183| -0. 146| -0. 097| Averages| 0. 186| -0. 334| -0. 236| -0. 176| -0. 147| -0. 127| Standard Deviation| 0. 026| 0. 048| 0. 032| 0. 038| 0. 037| 0. 036| Table 8: Average percentage masses ( ±0. 02%) of various Sodium Chloride Solutions ( ±0. 5%) and Distilled Water Graph 1: The relationship between the varied sodium chloride solutio ns and the control over 24 hours GRAPH COMMENTARYIt appears that Graph 1 represents the relationship between the mass changes and the sodium chloride concentrations (0%, 2%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 25%). The graph displays that there was a major decrease in size mainly in the 2% and only potato pieces in the distilled water were able to increase in mass. 3 Conclusions and Evaluation 3. 1 Conclusion CONCLUSION STATEMENT The aim of this investigation was to test the effect of the varied sodium concentration on the osmosis of potato. This aim of the investigation was accomplished as there were significant differences on the effect of the varied sodium chloride solutions.Although the data has proven the hypothesis to be false. CONCLUSION EXPLANATION Data produced from this investigation reveals that the hypothesis suggested earlier is incorrect. As shown in Graph 1, the average for 2% concentration had a more drastic decrease than the 25% concentration. Thus, disproving the hypothesis which st ates as the concentration level of sodium chloride increases the masses will decrease in relation. On the contrary the results suggested decrease in concentration of the solution will greater the decrease in mass after a period of time.For example, the average percentages change for the 2% concentration decreased by approximately 27. 77% in comparison to the average percentages change of 10. 91% of the 25% concentration of sodium chloride. This would suggest that any concentration higher than 2% concentration of sodium chloride would cause the potato cell to become turgid and hypotonic as a result of the higher concentration of water entering the potato cell. By becoming turgid the cell is no longer allowing the diffusion of any molecules into the cell thus preventing osmosis to occur.The higher the percentage the faster the occurrence of the osmosis causing the cell to become turgid faster and preventing the water molecules enter. With this in mind, questions the reliability of the data despite the evidence of the balanced error bars. The effects of â€Å"sodium chloride concentration had decreased the mass as the concentration levels increased. † (Roberts, et al. , 2009) This investigation supports the hypothesis stated earlier. In this investigation the results as the researchers were able to conclude on the results of their 0. % decreasing the lease and with their maximum concentration of 2% giving the largest change in mass. However, this investigation was conducted in the time from of only 30 minutes not 24 hours. On the other hand, a research â€Å"The Effect of Salinity on Osmosis in Solanum tuberosum (potatoes)† provided much similar results and was also conducted in a similar environment. This investigation supports the results obtained in this experiment justifying â€Å"0. 1% and 0. 5% declined in mass with a rapid rate† and â€Å"10% and increasing, the rate was much slower† (Holler, 2012) . 2 Evaluation Procedures RELI ABLITY Measurements were measured with by only one researcher and thus eliminated the possible chances of human error that may occur if the measurements were recorded by multiple people. The trials of this investigation were conducted in a chronological order and one-by-one. This process was also repeated five times for the each concentration to increase the reliability. The standard deviation displayed quite minimal and well balanced which shows there were minimal significant errors that may have occurred throughout the experiment.However some the errors that perhaps occurred due to some of the pieces were penetrated by the rod in removing them from the corer, this may have caused some significant error and decreases the reliability of the experiment. Due to the use of the same size potato it can be assumed that the reliability of this investigation is dependable as there is little differentiation in size. Also, all the potato pieces were from the same potato meaning they were also from the source limiting any uncontrolled variables to occur and increase the reliability of this investigation.The uncertainties of this experiment were quite minimal however perhaps may have occurred during the process of weighing the mass of the potato pieces due to not pressing ‘tare’ before measuring the mass of each piece therefore altering the masses slightly and increasing the uncertainties. LIMITATIONS/WEAKNESSES/ERROR IN LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS Table 9: Possible limitations with the investigation and improvement to these errors Limitations/weaknesses/error in the laboratory| Improvement| Inaccuracy in the measurements when cutting the potato pieces in to 2cm length. Due to the minimal cooking skill of the researcher the potato pieces were not precisely 2. 0cm but perhaps to varied 2. 1 cm. Significance of this would affect the data as is contradicts its purpose as a controlled variable. To improve on this matter perhaps cutting the potato into a cube or rec tangle shape to a 4cm height then using a corer to remove pieces of potato. After, line the all the potato pieces and cut all of them simultaneously in half. This would reduce the variance of the sizes. | Penetration of the potato pieces by the rod of the corer. The rod used to push the potato pieces out of the corer was bent and proved difficult to utilise as it failed to push the potatoes out and penetrated them. Penetration to the potato pieces will increase the surface area and increase the occurrence of osmosis leading onto questioning the reliability of the investigation. Perhaps in a replication of this experiment to use a larger corer size and a straight rod to prevent unnecessary penetrations to the potato pieces. | Time limit in conducting the experiment. Because of the time limit in the beginning of the experiment many errors occurred due to the experimenter rushing. These errors that may be able to be prevented if the time for the experiment was to be increased. | Excess Sodium Chloride when measuring the final mass of the potato pieces. | When measuring the mass of the final potato pieces, only two ply of paper towel were used to dry of the excess solutions. However after the 3rd trial the paper was far too damp to dry off anymore excess which could altered the results. This could be simple resolved by using more plies of paper towel. 3. 3 Improving the Investigation MODIFICATION TO THE EXPERIMENT To decrease the uncertainties a different method could be used to cut the potato pieces simultaneously therefore limiting the slightly varied sized pieces. This new method could be lining all 30 potato pieces in a straight line then measuring 2cm and cutting all the pieces in one cut. This mew method will likely to decrease the uncertainty when cutting the potato pieces. Creating a longer time limit to the investigation would provide time to increase the reliability of this investigation.By creating a different method to create the potato pieces so that there is no penetration of the use of the rod from the corer. In this investigation a small corer was utilised along with a bent rod was used to remove the pieces which caused penetrations in the potato pieces. If this investigation was to be replicated perhaps using a larger corer will be less difficult to remove the potato pieces and decreasing the chances of penetrating the pieces. Another method that could be considered is to not use the corer and cut the pieces manually from the potato, firstly into a rectangular prism or cube.This method will completely eliminate the chances of penetration of the potato pieces thus, increasing the reliability of the data produced and of the investigation. Modifications to the experiment perhaps include an extension to explore different variables that would affect osmosis. These extensions could be exploring the effect of surface -area, temperature and perhaps comparison on the use of sucrose solution against the salinity. An interesting extens ion would be to include a vice-versa investigation to test the effect of the potato pieces to return to its original mass if placed in distilled water.Bibliography Websites | Nigel D Purchon. 2012. Osmosis | Gondar Design Biology. [ONLINE] Available at: http://purchon. com/wordpress/biology/? page_id=173. [Accessed 01 October 12]. | BBC. 2012. BBC – GCSE Bitesize: Osmosis in cells. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www. bbc. co. uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gateway_pre_2011/greenworld/waterrev2. shtml. [Accessed 01 October 12]. | Bowen. 2002. Osmosis. [ONLINE] Available at:http://arbl. cvmbs. colostate. edu/hbooks/cmb/cells/pmemb/osmosis. html. [Accessed 08 October 12]. | Videos | Bozeman Biology. (2012). AP Biology Lab 1: Diffusion and Osmosis. Online Video]. 14 March. Available from:  http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=LeS2-6zHn6M. [Accessed: 01 October 2012]. | Online Documents | Roberts, M. , Kolbenschlag, J. , Brady, J. & Rice, T. , 2009. Effect of Concetration on Osm osis. [Online] Available at: https://docs. google. com/viewer? a=v&q=cache:ioq9fMDSyNgJ:www. bvsd. org/schools/MonarchHigh/teachers/kdonley/Vodcasts%2520and%2520Podcasts/Student%2520Projects/Osmosis%2520Labs%252009-10/Effect%2520of%2520Concentration%2520on%2520Osmosis. pptx+&hl=en&pid=bl&s [Accessed 11 November 2012]. | Word Documents |Holler, B. , 2012. The Effect of Salinity on Osmosis in Solanum tuberosum (potatoes). Gold Coast: Bianca Holler. | Appendixes Appendix A – Risk Assessment Appendix B – Turnitin Receipt â€Å"Osmosis Potato IA Term 4† to the assignment â€Å"Osmosis prac. † in the class â€Å"A. Lal 2012 Year 10 Term 4 Osmosis† on 12-Nov-2012 09:28PM. Your paper id is 283825801. Appendix C – Journal Date| Task| Time | 1st of October | Constructed design and completed background information/theory | 120 minutes | 2nd of October | Constructed method and experimental materials | 60 minutes | 8th of October | Completed