Julian Collins 11/14/13 2 PHOTOSYNTHASIS SUMMATIVE PROJECT PROBLEM:

How does doubling the amount of carbon dioxide from .5g of bisodium carbonate dissolved in 100mL of water to 1g in 100mL of water affect the rate of photosynthesis in elodea? HYPOTHESIS: if carbon dioxide is increased then the rate of photosynthesis will increase proportionally. THEORY: Photosynthesis is one of the processes in the creation of food in plants and is essential for it to take place. In the photosynthesis water, light and carbon are needed. It takes place in chloroplasts that are found in the leaves cells. To create the molecules essential for making food, the reactants, carbon and water use light to make chemical energy to create Carbohydrates and oxygen. If the amount of carbon is doubled in the elodea lab, the rate of photosynthesis will increase. The reason for this is because for the process of photosynthesis to occur, there needs to be carbon. If the amount of carbon increases then so will the amount of photosynthesis. But this can only occur if all the elements necessary, like water and CO2, are there. As shown by many experiments and graphs, the higher the concentrations, the higher the rate of photosynthesis. But there is a limit to how high the rate can get, At some point the amount of carbon is not a concern, if enzymes are working at the maximum rate, The amount of photosynthesis stays on a equal level as the carbon, as long as the amount of carbon stays the same. It is like adding fuel to fire, but the difference is that photosynthesis has its limits, while fire can keep spreading. In Ms. Oefingers 2012 classes, the average oxygen levels for the lab of with baking soda lab for .5g and 1g were 23.1 and 33.5. Overall there was a 15.5% increase in oxygen between .5g of baking soda and 1g. This was because of the higher concentration of carbon that the plant took in. As a result, the amount of oxygen that came out (the result of photosynthesis) was higher. PROSEDURE:

1. Measure and cut at an angle elodea 7 to 9 cm. 2. Remove a few leaves from end of stem and slightly crush the end of the stem. 3. Measure mass in grams and record. 4. Put elodea stem side up in a test tube. 5. Fill test tube with water and baking soda solution (1 gram to 100 mL of water). 6. Put tube in rack and adjust lamp with blue light 5 cm from top of test tube. 7. Turn on lamp and wait 1 minute.

8. After 1 minute, begin counting small, medium and large bubbles for 3 minutes. Record data. 9. Repeat with .5 grams and 100mL of water. 10. Repeat for Trial 2
DATA/OBSERVATIONS:

Trial 1 ___grams
Small x 1 CO2 1 gram 1x1=1

Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes at 5 and 10 cm

Medium x 2 5x2=10 Large x 3 25x3=75 Total 86

.5 gram

4x1=4

27x2=54

8x3=24

82

Notes: Trial 2 _____grams

Small x 1 CO2 1 gram .5 gram 5x1=5 46x1=46

Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes at 5 and 10 cm

Medium x 2 2x2=4 5x2=10 Large x 3 0x3=0 0x3=0 Total 9 56

Average
Trial 1 Trial 2 Total /2 Average .5g 82 56 138/2 29 1g 86 9 95/2 47.5

6th grade
.5g CLASS PERIOD AVERAGES 1 2 3 4 6 1g % Oxygen Decrease/Increase

108 69 33.7 23.7 26.3

139 47 26.5 14.3 36.3

22.3% increase 31.8% decrease 21.3% decrease 39.6% decrease 27.5% increase

7 TOTAL/5 AVERAGE

3.8 264.5/6 44.1

72.8 335.9/6 56

94.7% increase 26.6% increase

CHARTS:

Average Data
100 90 Amount O2 3 min 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 .5g BakingSoda 1g 44.1 69 56 47.3 Period 2 7th Grade

CONCLUSION: In this lab we tested the rate of photosynthesis if more carbon was added. For the test we added .5g and 1g of baking soda to the water with elodia, and timed it for 3 minutes each to see which one created more O2. My hypothesis is, if the amount of carbon dioxide increases, so will the amount of photosynthesis and oxygen. In my class period the amount of oxygen decreased by 31.8% when 1g of baking soda was added. My hypothesis was accurate 50% of the time. In periods 1, 6, and 7 the percentages of increase of O2 with 1g was 22.3%, 27.5% and 94.7%. The other half of the class got a decrease in oxygen with averages of 31.8% 21.3% and 39.6% for 1g. The overall O2 rate averages for the classes were 44.1 O2 for .5g and 56 O2 for 1g. The overall averages of O2 increased by 26.6% with 1g of baking soda. In conclusion, my hypothesis was correct because the overall averages had a increase in O2. ANALYSIS: Observing the data, there were many obvious flaws or discrepancies that should be viewed. 7th grade had many inconsistencies that may have changed the results in the lab. The baking soda group had a couple of inconsistencies, one of them being that the data had a few extreme results. There where 2 extreme result in 2 of the classes that had an increase. Period 1 had higher bubble count than usual with a count of 139 for 1g and 108 for .5g. Period 7 had strangely low bubble count for .5g with 3.8 and a somewhat heightened bubble count for 1g with 72.8. These extreme counts affected the overall average, and may have been caused by students counting bubbles from the leaves. Wide discrepancies were observed in the data, and these inconsistencies probably indicate errors in experimentation that should be controlled.

The reason these are inconsistencies is because some of the results for different classes were not recurring throughout the data. That is the reason the strange results for the increase group are inconsistent. These inconsistencies, bumps or flaws in the data can be removed to make the test more consistent. Two of the three increase groups were much larger than the rest. Now if period 7 and 1 were taken out of the data and an average made after the outliers were removed the results would also be more consistent. This may not prove my hypothesis, but it gets closer to what a fair lab test would be. The average with out period 7 and 1s data was 38.2 for .5g and 31 for 1g. The over all decrease was 18.8%. With periods 1 and 7 removed, the averages drastically changed. If the averages changed that much when the information was removed, the flaws in conducting the experiments most likely changed the end results. To improve this lab, I would have the elodea pinched by one person. This would make the lab more reliable because similar amounts of O2 are coming out of the elodea. Something ells that would make this lab more reliable would be measuring the elodea and make them alike. Having similar sizes of elodea would maybe, change the amount of O2 being produced. Overall this lab was well controlled besides the few inconsistencies that occurred. BIBLIOGRAPHY Coolidge-Stolz M.D., Elizabeth, et al. Focus On Life Science. Boston, Mass: Prentice Hall, 2008. Washington State Department of Ecology. American Waterweed- A Common Native Plant. February 24, 2003. November 2013. <http://www.ecy.wa.gov/Programs/wq/plants/native/elodea.html> GCSE Biology. Factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis. http://www.passmyexams.co.uk/GCSE/biology/factors-affecting-rate-ofphotosynthesis.html AQA Additional Science. Factors limiting photosynthesis, 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_aqa_pre_2011/plants/pla nts2.shtml