James Humphreys 12-5-13 1 Science Summative Report

PHOTOSYNTHESIS SUMMATIVE PROJECT

Problem: How does doubling the amount of carbon dioxide from .5g of bisodium carbonate dissolved in 100mL of water to 1g. dissolved in 100mL of water affect the rate of photosynthesis in elodea? Hypothesis: If elodea is submerged in water with .5g of bisodium carbonate, and another .5g is added, then the production of oxygen will increase by 50%. Theory: Photosynthesis is a process that plants have developed which enables them to produce food on their own by converting the suns energy into sugars and other energy sources. These assorted compounds produced fuel the plants life functions. This process needs CO2 and Oxygen, to name a few, to be able to work. Therefore, I think that adding more Baking Soda, which will increase the waters carbon dioxide levels, will provide more carbon for use in photosynthesis and will make production of oxygen, which is the output compound, push up to 50%. This is because carbon dioxide is absorbed along with sunlight and water, and is converted into oxygen. The practice lab showed me that if you double the carbon dioxide, which becomes oxygen, than you double the output of oxygen. The data from 2012 shows an increase of oxygen from

either doubled to even tripled when the baking soda is added. This tells me that oxygen will be doubled. 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.5 grams and 100mL of water. 10. Repeat for Trial 2 Data/Observations:
Trial 1 ___grams
Small x 1 CO2 1 gram .5 gram 42x1 31x1

Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes at 5 and 10 cm

Medium x 2 17x2 14x2 Large x 3 4x3 6x3 Total 88 77

Notes:

Trial 2 _____grams

Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes at 5 and 10 cm

Small x 1 CO2 1 gram .5 gram 95x1 71x1

Medium x 2 25x2 19x2

Large x 3 15x3 10x3

Total 190 139

AVERAGES: Small x1
CO2

Medium x2 42 33

Large x3

Total

1 gram .5g

68.5 51

28.5 24

139 108

2013 AVERAGE DATA IN 3 MINUTES FROM 5 DIFFERENT CLASSES Baking Soda

.5g CLASS PERIOD AVERAGES 1 2 3 4 6 7 TOTAL/5 AVERAGE 1g % Oxygen Decrease/Increase

108 69 33.7 23.7 26.3 3.8 264.5/6 44.1

139 47 26.5 14.3 36.3 72.8 335.9/6 56

+28.7 - 31.88 - 21.36 -39.66 + 38.00 +1815.79

140 120 Oxygen Produced 100 80 60 40 20 0 1 Group 2

108

139

56 44.1

0.5g 1g

Conclusion: In this lab, we were testing if the amount of oxygen produced through photosynthesis by elodea would double if we doubled the amount of carbon dioxide we added. All in all, we have concluded that doubling the amount of carbon dioxide from .5g to 1g, added to 100mL of water, DOES in fact increase the rate of photosynthesis in elodea. Without the added sodium bicarbonate, the total oxygen produced was 108. When the extra .5g of baking soda was added, that number grew to 139, which is 31 units more. With the larger amount of baking soda added, the rate of photosynthesis shot up 28.7%. I hypothesized that If elodea is submerged in water with .5g of bisodium carbonate, and another .5g is added, then the production of oxygen will increase by 50%. My hypothesis was correct in the sense that the oxygen production grew, but not by the 50%, which is what I predicted. Analysis: Now, we are faced with a question. What caused this huge rift between data? While one period has 108 with .5g of baking soda, period 7 has 3.8. Thats

an 104.2 range, right there. What made the results inconsistent? It may have been the elodea, the water, or a combination of the two. Also, I think the two periods had two very different ideas of what small, medium, and large bubbles are. This can be remedied by making sure all testing materials are the exact same in amount. Also. Give the class the other classes averages before they start, to give them an idea of what the other classes saw. If necessary, have one person in the class be the counter for everyone; so all groups have the same idea of what size category the bubbles fall into. Bibliography: http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plantidentification/alphabetical-index/elodea/ - Elodea Research http://scienceaid.co.uk/biology/biochemistry/photosyn thesis.html - Finding Necessary Compounds in Photosynthesis http://mypages.iit.edu/~smile/bi9201.html - Research on if Sodium Bicarbonate Will Increase Photosynthesis