Biology Lab Report

By: Yaswanth Singamaneni

Background Information: During photosynthesis, the light is absorbed by photosystems in the

chlorophyll, these photosystems consist of pigments such as chlorophyll A and B. These
electrons are excited in each photosystem and are excited to a higher energy level. The leaf then
undergoes a process known as carbon fixation, which involves the production of ATP which
reduces NADP to NADPH, which incorporates CO2 into the organic molecules. When the same
leaf, is placed in a water solution the leaf undergoes photosynthesis through the process of light
dependent reaction and produces oxygen. This investigation will focus on the effect of light
intensity (in terms of wavelength of light) on the rate of photosynthesis.

Lab Investigation: Investigating the effects of Light Intensity on the rate of photosynthesis of a
leaf observed through the floating of leaf disks

Research Question: How does different types of light (wavelength) affect the rate of
photosynthesis ?

Hypothesis: I hypothesize that when the light is between the wavelengths of 350-500
nanometers and 650 - 700 nanometers the rate of photosynthesis will be the highest, then the
number of leaf disks floating will be high, thus the rate of photosynthesis will be high . (i.e red
and blue) On the other hand, when the light is between 500-650 nanometers the rate of
photosynthesis will be low. (i.e green, yellow, and light blue)
Variables:

Independent: Types of Light ( i.e based on wavelength; green, blue, red, yellow)

Dependent: Rate of Photosynthesis (Number of Leaf Disks floating)

Controlled: Carbon Dioxide Concentration (Amount of Baking Soda) , Amount of water

supplied, Type of Leaf (Age, species, and color) , Temperature of the CO2 solution, Time of
Bubble Collection
Controlling and Measuring Variables:

1.) Control Variables:

A. Temperature - the temperature will remain constant as the experiment will be conducted
in the same room and thus be in room temperature of 25 degrees Celsius.
B. Volume of Baking Soda Solution - the solution will be extracted in precise amounts
using a syringe.
C. Volume and Surface Area of Leaf Disks- the leaf disks will have the same volume and
area as they will be cut into uniform circles using a hole puncher.

2.) Independent Variable:

A. Type of light - through the use of color paper and color filters, the type of light will
manipulated thus replicating the light of that wavelength.

3.) Dependent Variable:

A. The time it takes for the leaf disks to start floating to the top of the beaker will be
measured using a stopwatch with an uncertainty of ±0.1s.

Materials:
- 10 g of Baking Soda
- 1 Plastic Syringe
- 4 Leaves (10 leaf disks per leaf)
- 1 Hole Puncher
- 4 Plastic Cups
- 4 Light Source (different colored light bulbs)
- 4 Beakers
- Colored Filters and/or Cellophane
- 15W Lamp
- Liquid Soap
Procedure:

1.) Using Baking Soda, prepare 300 mL solution using baking soda and water. The baking soda
serves as a carbon dioxide source for the leave to perform photosynthesis. Add 1 drop of diluted
soap. The soap allows the solution to enter the leaf.

2.) Cut 10 leaf disks using the hole puncher from each leaf. Be careful to avoid hairy, ivy, and
fresh spinach leaves.

3.) Carefully push the plunger to leave as little air as possible inside the syringe. Hold a finger
over the syringe opening, draw back on the plunger to create a vacuum.

4.)While holding the vacuum, swirl the leaf disks to suspend them in the solution.

5.) Place the leaf disks into the soap/baking soda solution. Make sure to pour the same volume of
solution into each beaker, with the same concentration of baking soda and soap.

6.) Make a control group that consists of a solution of only water and soap, place it in normal
light.

7.) At the end of each minute interval record the number of floating leaf disks. Continue this
procedure until all the leaf disks are floating.

8.) Gently swirl a stirring rod to make sure that there are no leaves sticking to the sides of the
cup.

9.) For each group of leaf disks expose them to different wavelengths of light, by taking a
lightbulb with different color filters. Repeat the steps with each group of leaf disks
Results:

Raw Data Collection:

Table 1: Number of Floating Leaf Disks under Different Colored Light over a 20 minute
Time Period

Minutes Red Light Blue Light Green Light Yellow Light

1 0 0 0 0
2 0 1 0 0

3 0 3 0 0

4 0 4 0 0

5 2 4 0 1

6 4 4 1 2

7 6 5 1 3

8 7 5 1 4

9 8 6 2 4

10 10 7 2 5

Table 1 shows us that the rate of photosynthesis is the highest under red and blue light., in
addition the data also demonstrates that the leaf disks have the lowest rate of photosynthesis in
green light. Each beaker contained 10 leaf disks and were placed in a 10 cm below the light
source.

Processed Data:
Discussion (Analysis of Data):
The aim of this experiment was to investigate the factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis,
specifically light. Indicated by the data above, light plays an important role in photosynthesis.
The hypothesis that the leaf will have the highest rate of photosynthesis in red and blue light was
supported by the data.

Table 2: Estimated Time Taken for Half of the leaf disks to float under colored light

Red Light Blue Light Yellow Light Green Light

Time taken 50% 6.5 minutes 9 minutes 10 minutes 20 minutes

of the leaves to (approx.)
float

The table above illustrates that half of the leaves floated hasted in red light. The leaf disks in the
blue colored light took 40% extra time to float above, while the yellow and green light took the
longest. The smaller the value in the above table the greater the rate of photosynthesis. This
suggests that red and blue light provide optimal conditions for photosynthesis, this is because the
red and blue light contain the right amount of energy to excite and the chlorophyll electrons and
excite them to a higher energy level. Chlorophyll A and B absorb the wavelengths of light that
correspond red and blue. This means the photosystems that contain chlorophyll A and B were
most active during exposure to red and blue light. As the leaf was green, the outcome that green
light would be reflected and thus lead to a lower rate of photosynthesis was predictable since the
beginning of the experiment Chlorophyll is the cause of each plant's individual coloring and
there are four kinds of pigments t, Chlorophyll A, Chlorophyll B, Xanthophyll, and Carotene.

Conclusion/Evaluation:
To conclude, the rate of photosynthesis in plants depends immensely on the color of light
absorbed. Red light is the most effective light, as it provides a sufficient amount of energy to exit
the electrons in the photosystem, the reason being red has a long wavelength which allows it to
increase the rate of photosynthesis in plants. This lab experiment helped prove that plants grow
faster when exposed to certain light conditions than others. The data collected from the
experiment supports my hypothesis that the rate of photosynthesis is greatest during exposure to
red light. The color of the leaf in the experiment, plays a big role in the data collected, as the leaf
used in the experiment is green, the green light was reflected causing a lower rate of
photosynthesis in green light. This means that if a different colored leaf was used then different
results would have been yielded. Although the results that were yielded from this experiment are
accurate, there are a lot of improvements and suggestions that can be considered. For instance,
the light bulb that I had used is a 100W light bulb which had radiated a lot of heat energy which
could have indirectly affected the rate of photosynthesis, hence next time the experiment should
be performed with a more energy efficient light bulb. The color filters that were used were not
monochromatic which means they had not strictly allowed only one light to pass through.
Overall, the experiment was successful and had yielded experiments that had supports my
hypothesis.
Evidence for Experiment:

Image 1: Leaves used during this Image 3: Baking Soda/Soap Solution

experiment

Image 2: Cutting Leaf Disk into equal shape Image 4: Wrapping a light bulb (red)
Image 5: Wrapped Red Light Bulb Image 6 : Placing solution in dark room
with red light.
Bibliography:

http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=4647

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/photosynthesis-in-plants/the-light-dependent-
reactions-of-photosynthesis/a/light-and-photosynthetic-pigments

https://www.hunker.com/12189111/color-light-effects-on-photosynthesis

https://www.google.com/search?
client=safari&rls=en&ei=O40QXMHZMsnbrQH7vaTQAw&q=leaf+disk+lab+report+different+
colors+of+light&oq=leaf+disk+lab+report+different+colors+of+light&gs_l=psy-ab.
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