How to Test Blood to Make Sure It's Real
Gather the necessary materials., Prepare your blood sample., Drip hydrogen peroxide on the liquid., Watch for the presence of bubbles., Know the limitations.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Gather the necessary materials.
In this experiment, you will be testing for the presence of catalase using hydrogen peroxide.
Catalase is an enzyme in your cells that converts hydrogen peroxide into pure oxygen and water, causing a foaming action to occur.To use this test, you will need hydrogen peroxide, a microscope slide, a cotton swab, a small eyedropper, gloves, and the blood sample to test.
Standard 3% hydrogen peroxide found at the store works fine.
Always wear gloves when handling any solutions you believe to be biological, such as blood. -
Step 2: Prepare your blood sample.
For this test, you need to place a little bit of the blood sample on the microscope slide.
Using the cotton swab, smear a generous amount of the sample across the slide.
The exact amount doesn’t matter, but the more blood you test, the greater the reaction will be.
Setup a positive and negative control to make sure the experiment is working.A positive control tells you that your experiment is working while a negative control makes sure that you aren’t getting results that are false positives.
Test a substance you know contains no cells, such as paint.
This is your negative control.
Your positive control will be another sample that you know is blood. , With the eyedropper, take up some of the hydrogen peroxide and drip it onto the blood.Again, the exact amount isn’t important.
You will be able to see if the experiment is working right away.
If you don’t have an eyedropper, you can use a cotton swab soaked with hydrogen peroxide and rub it into the sample.
Test the same sample multiple times to make sure you get the same results. , When a substance that is catalase positive is exposed to hydrogen peroxide, it will bubble rapidly.
Because blood contains catalase, if your sample is real blood, it should immediately start to bubble.If the sample doesn’t bubble, it isn’t blood.
If the sample does start to bubble, you still can’t be totally sure it is blood, but this is a good step forward in determining that it is blood. , Catalase is present in many living organisms such as plants and bacteria.
Using hydrogen peroxide to do a catalase test is not very specific because of this.
It’s important to recognize that even through a substance tests positive for catalase, that doesn’t mean it is actually blood.You can use the catalase test as a first step.
If it tests positive, you can move forward with more specific tests.
This method is also not very good for detecting dilute concentrations or small amounts of blood. -
Step 3: Drip hydrogen peroxide on the liquid.
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Step 4: Watch for the presence of bubbles.
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Step 5: Know the limitations.
Detailed Guide
In this experiment, you will be testing for the presence of catalase using hydrogen peroxide.
Catalase is an enzyme in your cells that converts hydrogen peroxide into pure oxygen and water, causing a foaming action to occur.To use this test, you will need hydrogen peroxide, a microscope slide, a cotton swab, a small eyedropper, gloves, and the blood sample to test.
Standard 3% hydrogen peroxide found at the store works fine.
Always wear gloves when handling any solutions you believe to be biological, such as blood.
For this test, you need to place a little bit of the blood sample on the microscope slide.
Using the cotton swab, smear a generous amount of the sample across the slide.
The exact amount doesn’t matter, but the more blood you test, the greater the reaction will be.
Setup a positive and negative control to make sure the experiment is working.A positive control tells you that your experiment is working while a negative control makes sure that you aren’t getting results that are false positives.
Test a substance you know contains no cells, such as paint.
This is your negative control.
Your positive control will be another sample that you know is blood. , With the eyedropper, take up some of the hydrogen peroxide and drip it onto the blood.Again, the exact amount isn’t important.
You will be able to see if the experiment is working right away.
If you don’t have an eyedropper, you can use a cotton swab soaked with hydrogen peroxide and rub it into the sample.
Test the same sample multiple times to make sure you get the same results. , When a substance that is catalase positive is exposed to hydrogen peroxide, it will bubble rapidly.
Because blood contains catalase, if your sample is real blood, it should immediately start to bubble.If the sample doesn’t bubble, it isn’t blood.
If the sample does start to bubble, you still can’t be totally sure it is blood, but this is a good step forward in determining that it is blood. , Catalase is present in many living organisms such as plants and bacteria.
Using hydrogen peroxide to do a catalase test is not very specific because of this.
It’s important to recognize that even through a substance tests positive for catalase, that doesn’t mean it is actually blood.You can use the catalase test as a first step.
If it tests positive, you can move forward with more specific tests.
This method is also not very good for detecting dilute concentrations or small amounts of blood.
About the Author
Cheryl Russell
Enthusiastic about teaching pet care techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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