Racquel Fox Science 6 November 14, 2013 PHOTOSYNTHESIS SUMMATIVE REPORT PROBLEM: How does the color of light

(blue, red) affect the rate of photosynthesis in Elodea at a distance of 5cm from the plant? HYPOTHESIS: If the color of light is changed from red to blue, the rate of photosynthesis will be 20% higher in blue light. THEORY: Photosynthesis is the process where plants make their own food. The chloroplasts in the leaves get the energy from the sun and convert it to sugar and oxygen. In order for photosynthesis to occur, there has to be carbon dioxide, light energy, and water. In the first part of photosynthesis, the energy in the sunlight is captured by the chloroplasts. In the second part, the captured sunlight energy is used to produce oxygen and sugar from the water and the carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide used enters the leaf through the stomata, which are small openings in the leaf where oxygen and carbon dioxide can move through. Every plant does the photosynthesis process to make food. The light spectrum is all of the colors of the rainbow and different pigments absorb different amounts of light. Blue absorbs a higher amount of chlorophyll than red even though both colors are at the ends of the spectrums. Blue may absorb a higher amount of chlorophyll than red, but red reflects more visible light than blue. The amount of energy carried depends on the color and the wavelength. A shorter wavelength carries more energy with it than the longer wavelengths. The color blue has a wavelength of 470 nanometers while the color red has a wavelength of 665 nanometers. This means that more energy is getting carried into the plant from the color blue. I hypothesized that the rate of photosynthesis will be 20 percent higher in blue light because by rounding I found the difference of the two wavelengths was about 200 and the color blue absorbs more light than the color red.

PROCEDURE FOR COLOR OF LIGHT 1. Measure and cut two elodea pieces at an angle 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 spring water and baking soda solution (1 tsp. 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 for Trial 2 and 3 DATA/OBSERVATIONS:
Trial 1: 1.5 grams Oxygen Produced in 2 minutes with blue and red light
Small x 1 Color Blue 72x1=72 12x2=24 4x3=12 108 Medium x 2 Large x 3 Total

Red

20x1=20

3x2=6

0x3=0

26

Notes: Trial 2 1.1grams

Color Blue Red 58x1= 44x1=44 13x2=26 10x2=20 4x3=12 0x3=0 96 64

Oxygen Produced in 2 minutes with blue and red light

Medium x 2 Large x 3 Total

Small x 1

AVERAGES FOR 2 TRIALS

TRIALS 1 2 Total/2 Average/2 Notes: Elodea 1: 1.6 g Elodea 2: 1.5 g\ Elodea 3: blue to red= 1.5 Elodea 4: red to blue= 1. BLUE 108 96 204/2 102 RED 26 64 90/2 45

2013 AVERAGE DATA IN 3 MINUTES FROM 6 DIFFERENT CLASSES COLOR OF LIGHT

BLUE CLASS PERIOD AVERAGES 1 2 3 4 6 7 TOTAL/6 AVERAGE RED % Oxygen Decrease/Increase

58.5 63.5 39 112 102 68.5 443.5/6 73.9

70 19 24.3 85.8 45 50.8 294.9/6 49.2

16.4% more for red 70% more for blue 37.7% more for blue 23.4% more for blue 55.9% more for blue 25.8% more for blue 33.4% decrease

PHOTOSYNTHESIS RATE UNDER BLUE AND RED LIGHT

PHOTOSYNTHESIS RATE IN BUBBLES 120 102 100 80 60 45 40 20 0 GROUP GROUPS 7TH GRADE 73.9 49.2

BLUE RED

CONCLUSION: The lab that I studied was whether a piece of elodea would photosynthesize more in blue or red light. I hypothesized that the elodea would photosynthesize 20% higher in blue light. My group had a decrease of 55.9% in blue to red light. The rest of the classes had a range of decreases from 70% to 23.4% in blue to red light. Only 1/6 of the classes had an increase of photosynthesis in bubbles in red light. At an increase of 16.4% in red light, period 1 stands out from all of the other periods. In conclusion,

my hypothesis was correct but I did not get the correct percentage of how much higher the rate of photosynthesis would be. ANALASYIS: Examining the 2013 results, there are some inconsistencies in the data. My group had an abnormally large decrease from blue to red at 57 bubbles. My group and period 2 both had a significant decrease from blue to red, my group at 57 bubbles and period 2 at 44.5 bubbles. Almost all of the periods had a decrease from blue to red except for period 1, which increased by 11.5 bubbles, which changed the data by a lot. This years data had more of an increase of the rate of photosynthesis from blue light, which was different from the data from 2012, which had more of an increase of the rate of photosynthesis from red light. There can be multiple solutions to why there were inconsistencies in the data. My group had some trouble getting our trials done, and that resulted in the wrong data. We had to swap both of our elodeas under blue to red light, but we did not do it in the right amount of time. Period 2 could have had the same difficulty with the trials, but they also could have crushed the stem a little too much or cut the elodea a little to short which made more bubbles come out. Period 1, being the only period to increase from blue light to red light, was a very peculiar case. This could have happened because they might have taken the leaves off the end of one elodea sprig but not the other or they could have also crushed the end of the stem a little bit too much. I thought it was weird the this years data had more of an increase of bubbles from red to blue light and 2012s data had more of an increase of bubbles from blue to red light. There arent many possibilities to why that could be. It isnt very likely that all of the class periods crushed their stems too much or cut the elodea too short, so Im not sure why that inconsistency occurred this year. To make a more reliable procedure, there are a few things my group could have done. Our procedure was a mix of two well written procedures that included a lot of detail on how to set up the experiment. However, we could have said the amount of the stem to crush and the amount of time there was to switch the elodea sprigs for trial 2. All in all, the procedure went well, there were just a few things that could have been added to the procedure to make it more reliable. 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.

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