Name ______________________________________

Plant Growth and Light

Purpose: to investigate the relation of light power to photosynthesis in aquatic plants

Hypothesis: As light availability or intensity increases the rate of photosynthesis will also
increase.
Materials:
http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0078693896/280403/LS01.html

Procedure:
1. Go to http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0078693896/280403/LS01.html
2. Set up two tanks: click and drag a pitcher of water and a bag of gravel to each tank
3. Click and drag an Elodea plant to each tank
4. Drag the 15 W light bulb to the bulb holder on one of the tanks.
5. Close the tanks and start the timer
6. Count the bubbles produced in each tank and record it.
7. Repeat three times and find the average of the bubbles.
8. Open the tanks, remove the 15 W bulb. Repeat, the process with a 75 Watt bulb on the right
and then a 60 Watt bulb .
9. Record your results in Table 1 and draw a graph.
Results: See Table 1 and graph, below

Table 1: Photosynthesis Rate and Light Intensity in Elodea

Photosynthesis Rate (Number of Bubbles/60 s)

No Light 15 Watts 60 Watts 75 Watts

1 2 1 15 32

2 2 1 15 32

3 2 1 15 32

Average 2 1 15 32

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Conclusion: As light intensity increases the photosynthesis rate increases unless there is no light
at all.

Discussion: In this experiment the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis was
investigated. To measure the rate of photosynthesis, the amount of oxygen produced was
measured. By counting the number of bubbles formed in the tanks the amount of oxygen was
observed. As it was a computer simulation the number of bubbles formed under different
conditions remained the same, however this can lead to human error in counting the bubbles and
so the experiment was repeated multiple times to check the number of bubbles. The independent
variable in this experiment was the light intensity and the dependant variable was the number of
bubbles. Every other variable was controlled as the tank was closed of, the amount of time in
which the results were recorded was kept the same and the plant, amount of water, and gravel
were kept constant across every tank.

The Elodea in the 75 watts tank had the most number of bubbles while the tank with 15
watts had the least amount. The 75 watts tank continuously produced 32 bubbles in the simulation
and the 60 watts tank produced 15 bubbles. In the 15 watts tank only one bubble was produced.
Between the three we see a clear relationship between the photosynthesis rate and the light
intensity. As light intensity increased, rate of photosynthesis also increased :However, the tank
with no light two bubbles were formed, which was more than the 1 bubble form the 15 watts tank.
So these results refuted the hypothesis, which stated that an increase in light intensity would lead
to an increase of the photosynthesis rate, as even though there is more light in the 15 watt tank
than the tank with no light, the latter photosynthesises at a quicker rate.

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 The strengths of a computer model are that the results will not differ as the environment
controls will stay the same and it will be prone only to human errors that might effect the results
of an experiment. However, in a computer model a student or researcher cannot be entirely sure
that the results are accurate as the data source that might have entered the fixed results could be
incorrect. The researcher will also have less familiarity on how to use simulated laboratory
apparatus and might struggle to repeat the experiment in real life.
To measure the amount of oxygen produced or the rate of photosynthesis counting the bubbles
produced is not the most reliable method as the volume of air in the bubbles might vary, instead a
more effective way would be to use a gas syringe connected to a tank through a sealed tube that
contains an aquatic plant and based on how much the syringe moves or inflates the volume of the
oxygen produced can be measured. The light intensity can be changed the same way it was in this
experiment. Using a gas syringe could also beneficial as a water plant may not be necessary and
the experiment could be conducted using individual leaves on a plant.

Reflection: The biggest take-away from this experiment was that a hypothesis will not be right all
the time and proving your hypothesis requires performing the experiment meticulously, repeating
it numerous times and carefully identifying errors.

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