SARS-CoV-2 Chemistry Project
- What is the biochemical nature of SARS?
The biochemical nature of SARS-CoV-2 is complex. A basic grasp of the biochemical nature would show understanding of the virus’ structure, the reproductive cycles it can undergo (lytic and lysogenic), and the general structure of cells and how they react to the virus. SARS-CoV-2 is a 50-200 nanometer virus with a surface of protein spikes similar to a crown, or “corona.” It contains single-stranded RNA which it injects into our cells (usually the epithelial cells of our lungs), causing them to reproduce more cells with corrupted code. When enough copies of the virus have been produced within the cells, the virus punctures the cell membrane, killing the cell, and is released upon other cells, creating what’s known as the lysogenic cycle. When enough cells have been killed, scar tissue develops and symptoms, usually respiratory-related.
At the beginning of the semester, the extent of my knowledge was that viruses hijacked our cells. Now, not only do I know what viruses do, but how our cells work, and a plethora of knowledge about the chemical world. I know how to translate the size of an object from nanometers to meters and have been introduced to the world of organic chemistry. I did several assignments on molecular principles and terminology. I’ve truly grown a great amount this semester.
- How did your knowledge of science grow through your work on the project?
As I worked on the project I came across a lot of sources that didn’t make sense to me. Most articles I found on the biochemical nature of SARS-CoV-2 were beyond my level of comprehension. This was a shame because I wanted to learn more details about the function of COVID-19, but every other word was one I didn’t know. The one thing I could interpret was the COVID has single-stranded RNA. From what I learned in class, I was actually able to get an idea about what this meant. RNA carries code for cells and because it’s single-stranded means it can manipulate the cell’s amino acid combination. I connected the concept of how a cell makes protein to how viruses reproduce, and even though that may not be entirely appropriate or detailed, I was proud to be able to make a claim based on evidence and knowledge that I had.
The biggest lesson I walked away from this project with is that independent learning is hard. You must find reliable sources, create a baseline of knowledge on the subject, and then slowly and thoroughly build up your pyramid of wisdom. I’m proud I could take my understanding of COVID a step further at all, and I’m also proud I was able to tie it in with my passion for screenwriting.
- This semester in Chemistry we focused on the SARS-CoV-2 virus and COVID-19 because of its obvious relevance to our lives. In doing this we studied some ideas that would traditionally be studied in biology class, some that would be found in a physics class and some that would be found in a chemistry class. We also read far more news articles and spent more time looking at scientific papers than is typical for a high school chemistry class. The trade-off is that we did not cover as much chemistry content as you would typically see in a chemistry class and we did not do it in an order that is most advantageous to learning chemistry. Please evaluate this pedagogical decision and state whether you believe the benefits of this method outweigh the downsides or not.
I do believe the pandemic slightly distracted us from learning deeper chemistry concepts. We began the unit talking so much about chemistry and molecules and the functions and terminologies that come along with them that I ended up disappointed about what the final project was about. I winded up realizing that most of what we learned in class couldn’t apply to my project. Instead, we split the curriculum in half and made a project that, at minimum, demonstrated an understanding of half the knowledge we could have learned.
Nevertheless, I found equal value in everything we learned this semester. I don’t care if it’s applicable to chemistry or not; My understanding of science grew, and I see that as a win.