Summative Photosynthesis Lab

Parker Hanley Science 2 November 18, 2013

PROBLEM: How does doubling the amount of carbon dioxide from .5g of Disodium carbonate dissolved in 100mL of water to 1g. dissolved in 100mL of water affect the rate of photosynthesis in elodea? HYPOTHESIS: If carbon dioxide (by doubling baking soda) is increased, then the rate of photosynthesis will increase by an average of at least 50%. THEORY: Photosynthesis is the process in which a plant captures energy in the chloroplasts and produces food and oxygen. In photosynthesis, a plant requires carbon dioxide, and water. When added together, glucose and oxygen are produced. In my group we doubled the amount of baking soda added to the water. Mixing the baking soda and the water is what produces the carbon dioxide. Doubling the baking soda will increase the amount of carbon dioxide made by about 50%. Increasing the amount of carbon dioxide will increase the rate of photosynthesis because there will be more carbon dioxide available for producing the glucose and the oxygen. In 2012, 4 out of the 5 classes increased in the amount of carbon dioxide produced. The average amount of increase in those 4 classes was 49.4. That data shows that the majority of the classes in 2012 increased in amount of carbon dioxide at an average of about 50%. I predicted that the rate of photosynthesis would increase by an average of 50% because by doubling the amount of baking soda that would increase the amount of carbon dioxide made which would be available in the use of photosynthesis. PROCEDURE: 1. Measure and cut at an angle elodea 7 to 9 cm. 2. Remove a few leaves from end of stem and slightly crush end of 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 with .5 grams and 100mL of water. 10. Repeat for Trial 2

DATA/OBSERVATIONS:
Trial 1 ___grams CO2 1 gram Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes with .5 and 1 g baking soda Medium x 2 5 x 2 = 10 Large x 3 25 x 3 = 75 Total 86 Small x 1 1x1=1

.5 gram Notes:

4x1=4

27 x 2 = 54

8 x 3 = 24

82

Trial 2 _____grams Small x 1 CO2 1 gram .5 gram 5 46

Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes at 5 and 10 cm Medium x 2 2 5 Large x 3 0 0 Total 9 56

Averages Trial 1 Trial 2 Total/2 Average .5 g 82cm 56cm 138/2 69 1g 86cm 9cm 95/2 47.5

CONCLUSION: In this lab, my group tested to see how doubling the amount of baking soda added to water from .5g to 1g would affect the rate of photosynthesis in an elodea. I hypothesized that if we double the amount of baking soda added to the water then the rate of photosynthesis will increase by an average of at least 50%. My hypothesis was correct 17% of the time. My group was 1 of the 3 classes that had a decrease in rate of photosynthesis. My group had a decrease of 31.88%, period 3

had a decrease of 21.36%, and period 4 had a decrease of 39.66%. Since those were the only 3 classes that had a decrease, which resulted in almost the opposite of my hypothesis. Periods 1, 6, and 7 had increases of 22.3%, 27.55%, and 94.78%. Showing that data, my hypothesis was only correct for period 7, which is almost double of what I originally thought the rate of photosynthesis would increase by. The overall average was 21.25%, which is lower than my hypothesis. In conclusion, my hypothesis was incorrect 83% of the time, which makes my hypothesis an unreliable source because it was only correct 17% of the time. ANALYSIS: In this data, Period 1 counted a fairly high amount of bubbles at 108 and 139, and having a 22.3% increase. Period 1 was 1 of the 3 classes that increased out of the 6 classes. Something else that I noticed was that period 7 had a really high amount of increase at 94.78%, which definitely had an impact on the total average amount of increase of all the classes. If you take out period 7s data, the overall average changes to 0.91%. That would decrease the overall average by 95.71%, which is a major difference. The last discrepancy that I saw was that half of the classes results increased at 1g of baking soda and the other half decreased. If every class had an increase the average amount of increase would change to 39.59%. Based on these discrepancies, the data from 7th grade in 2013 is mostly unreliable. The results in the 2013 baking soda lab were inconsistent which made them unreliable. The range of average amounts of increase and decrease is 73.42%. This shows that there is either an outlier, who raised the range, or the amounts of increase and decrease are inconsistent or mixed. If each class had an increase or decrease that was within 10% of each other, the data would be more reliable because it would result in a smaller range. Since the amounts of increase or decrease are so spread out it is hard to tell if some classes did the lab wrong or if some did it correctly. Also to tell which classes did the lab correctly if some did. If the Increases and decreases of each class were closer there would be less inconsistencies making the data more reliable. To improve the reliability of the procedure, the difference between small, medium, and large bubbles should be specified. Different classes and groups may have had different opinions on whether a carbon dioxide bubble is small medium or large. For example, one class may have thought that a bubble is large, while another class would have thought that the same bubble was actually small. That could result in many mixed answers. Some classes may have also counted the bubbles coming off of the leaves instead of just the bubbles that emerge off of the stem, as the directions specify. This could add many more bubbles to how many actually came off of the elodea. If one specific student had counted the bubbles correctly for every class, then the procedure could become more reliable because there would be no confusion on sizes of bubbles or the location of carbon dioxide bubbles from the elodea.

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> Young, Paul. The Botany Coloring Book. Cambridge, New York: Harper and Row, 1982. Oefinger, Taresa. 2013 Average Data in 3 Minutes from 6 Different Classes. N.p.: n.p., Dec. 2013. Docx. Oefinger, Taresa. Summative Problem Questions to Investigate. N.p.: n.p., Nov. 2013. Docx.