Yanai Perry Science 2 11.14.

13 PHOTOSYNTHESIS SUMMATIVE PROJECT

PROBLEM:
photosynthesis?

Does increasing the amount CO2 increase the rate of

Hypothesis: If you double the amount of carbon dioxide from .5g of baking
soda to 1g of baking soda then the rate of photosynthesis will increase.

Theory:
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants gain energy from sunlight and water. It does this by capturing sun light with a pigment called chlorophyll and getting water with a tissue called xylem, and getting CO2 from the air with tiny holes in leaves called stomata.

PROCEDURE FOR CARBON DIOXIDE (BAKING SODA) 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 Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes at 5 and 10 cm

Small x 1 CO2 1 gram 1*1=1

Medium x 2 5*2=10

Large x 3 25*3=75

Total 86

.5 gram Notes:

4*1=4

27*2=54

8*3=24

82

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

Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes at 5 and 10 cm Medium x 2 2*2=4 5*2=10 Large x 3 0*3=0 0*3=0 Total 9 56

Trial 1 Trial 2 Total/2 Average

5cm 82 56

10cm

2013 AVERAGE DATA IN 3 MINUTES FROM 5 DIFFERENT CLASSES .5g CLASS PERIOD AVERAGES 1 2 3 4 6 7 TOTAL/5 Baking Soda 1g % Oxygen Decrease/Increase

108 69 33.7 23.7 26.3 3.8 264.5/6

139 47 26.5 14.3 36.3 72.8 335.9/6

28.7% 31.8% 21.3% 38% 1815.7%

AVERAGE

44.1

56

Comparison of CO2
80 Average Oxygen in 3 Minutes 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0.5g Baking Soda 1g 44.1 47 Period 2 7th Grade 69 56

Notes: Conclusion: In this lab I tried to find out if increasing the amount of CO2 near a plant increases the rate of photosynthesis. On average, 1g of baking soda instead of 0.5g increased the rate of photosynthesis from 44.1 to 56 however, only 50% of the elodea increased their rate of photosynthesis. The other 50%had their rate of photosynthesis decrease. There was one discrepancy in the data. Period 7 rate of oxygen increased from 3.8 with 0.5g of baking soda to 72.8 with 1g of baking soda. This was a 1815.7% increase. This test proved my hypothesis wrong. Out of the 7 tests, 4 of them did not show in increase in the rate of photosynthesis. Analysis: Looking at the data there were some inconsistencies. Period 1 had the largest numbers 108 to 139. Period 7 had an 1815.7% increase in oxygen production. Half of the elodea had an increase in oxygen production and half of the elodea had a decrease in oxygen production. The reliability of the experiment would be increased if a standardized measurement of oxygen were used. This lack of a standard measurement is probably what led to Period 7s strange results. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Coolidge-Stolz M.D., Elizabeth, et al. Focus On Life Science. Boston, Mass: Prentice Hall, 2008. Young, Paul. The Botany Coloring Book. Cambridge, New York: Harper and Row, 1982.