Splitting the Pea

March 6, 2011 @ 8:54 pm | Filed under: ,

Jane takes a chemistry lab class once a week and last week she casually informed me that they had extracted DNA from split peas in class.

Me: Bwah?
Jane: Yep, with a blender.
Me:

She told me how it worked and it sounded extremely cool and I asked for the directions. She found the experiment written up here, at the University of Utah’s Genetic Science Learning Center (but warned me, as I shall now warn you, that the background color is an assault on the eyes).

What you need:

Salt
Water
A small glass
A long toothpick or wooden stick
Detergent
A DNA source (split peas)
Contact lens solution
A blender
A measuring container
Rubbing alcohol
A test tube (optional)

Click through for instructions.


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Comments

4 Reponses | Comments Feed
  1. Eileen Smithdeal says:

    Can’t wait to try this…Thanks, Jane 🙂

  2. Jordin says:

    This is so COOL!!! Thank you for sharing!

  3. Cristilyn says:

    Oooh, thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to do this!

  4. Elizabeth M says:

    You can also use bananas, tomatoes, and strawberries.

    I planned this for a Cub Scout science theme overnight. I’ll look to find my instructions too. We didn’t even need a blender for it.

    The favorite part (keeping in mind these were 6-9 year old boys for the most part) — my husband explaining to them that the DNA strands together in the liquid would look like (sorry)…snot. Hey, it kept their attention through the actual teaching parts!