Conclusion

The data from our experiment showed how the concentration

of carbon dioxide-containing tonic water affected the rate of
photosynthesis. The rate at which the leaf discs in each solution
rose after accumulating oxygen via photosynthesis indirectly
measured the rate of photosynthesis. The leaf disks in the 100%
tonic water solution all rose after 1 minute, and the leaf disks in
the 75% tonic water solution all rose after 3 minutes. While all of
the disks in the 50%, 25% and 0% tonic water solutions did not
completely rise, 8 rose in the 50% tonic water solution after 20
minutes, and 6 rose in the 25% tonic water solution after 20
minutes. As expected, 0 leaf disks rose in the 0% tonic water
during the 20 minute trial due to a lack of carbon dioxide to allow
photosynthesis to occur.
From the collected data, a conclusion was made that
concentration of
carbon-containing tonic water directly varied with the rate of
photosynthesis. This supports the original hypothesis. Also, it can
be said that the rate of photosynthesis increased as the
concentration of reactants, or carbon dioxide, increased. This is
supported by all of the leaf disks rising after 1 minute in the 100%
tonic water solution and by none of the disks rising after 20
minutes in the 0% tonic water solution. All of the disks in the
100% tonic water solution rose immediately because there were
enough reactants of photosynthesis. None of the disks in the 0%
tonic water solution rose because there was insufficient carbon
dioxide, which is, again, a reactant of photosynthesis.