Carl Valds Science 2 November 14, 2013 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 the carbon dioxide (by doubling baking soda) is increased, then the rate of photosynthesis will in increase. Theory: Photosynthesis is the process when a plant absorbs sunlight through its chloroplasts to produce energy (sugar). Photosynthesis happens in the chloroplasts by having its chlorophylls trap light. Chloroplasts are mostly found in the leaves. I think photosynthesis will increase when carbon dioxide is doubled because since there will be more carbon dioxide the plant will work faster to be able to use all the CO2 be absorbing more sunlight thus causing photosynthesis to increase by about 50%. The place with the highest rate of photosynthesis on Earth is the amazon jungle. Using last years data we can see that 80% of the time when they added more baking soda the oxygen levels increased. And thats why I think that the oxygen levels would rise.

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 .5 grams and 100mL of water. 10. Repeat for Trial 2

DATA/OBSERVATIONS: Trial 1 ___grams 5 and 10 cm Small x 1 CO2 1 gram .5 gram 1x1=1 4x1=4 Oxygen produced in 3 minutes at Medium x 2 5x2=10 27x2=54 Large x 3 25x3=75 8x3=24 Total 1+10+75=86 4+54+24=82

Notes: Trial 2 _____grams 5 and 10 cm Small x 1 CO2 1 gram .5 gram 5x1=5 46x1=46 Oxygen produced in 3 minutes at Medium x 2 2x2=4 5x2=10 Large x 3 0x3=0 0x3=0 Total 5+4+0=9 46+10+0=56

AVERAGES Trial 1 Trial 2 Total/2 Average

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1g .5g Average Oxgen produced

.5 cm 82 56 138/2 69

1 cm 86 9 95/2 47.5

Average Oxgen produced

2013 AVERAGE DATA IN 3 MINUTES FROM 5 DIFFERENT CLASSES .5g CLASS PERIOD AVERAGES 1 108 2 69 3 33.7 4 23.7 6 26.3 7 3.8 TOTAL/5 264.5/6 AVERAGE 44.1 Baking Soda 1g % Oxygen Decrease/Increase

139 47 26.5 14.3 36.3 72.8 335.9/6 56

28% Increase 46% Decrease 21% Decrease 39% Decrease 27% Increase 94% Increase 21% Increase

80 Average Oxygen in Three minutes 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 69

Comparison of CO2
56 47.5 44.1 0.5g 1g

Period 2

All Classes

Notes:

Have two people count bubbles Share data better Add up bubbles better Measure lamps better Conclusion: In this lab we investigated that if we double the amount of carbon dioxide would it affect the amount photosynthesis. I hypothesized that if we doubled the carbon dioxide levels the amount of photosynthesis would double too. My hypothesis was correct 50% of the time. In class periods 1,6,7 the amount of photosynthesis increased by about 49%. However in classes 2,3,4 the amount of photosynthesis decreased by about 35%. In conclusion my hypothesis was indeed correct. Analysis: After looking at the data there I noticed that there were some inconsistencies. An example of this is that in period 7 there data for .5g of baking soda was extremely low compared to other groups. The data is also inconsistent because 50% of the groups data increased and 50% of them decreased. These results were inconsistent because it was possible that in some groups they may have counted the bubbles coming from the leaves and not the stem. They also might have been counting the bubbles wrong and making small bubbles medium and medium bubbles big. Something else also could have been that some lamps were a little closer and not the exact same distance every time. Something that would have made this test more reliable would be if the same person counted the bubbles for each test. Another thing would be if the lamps had been all the same distance from the beaker as all the rest. And thats what could have made the test 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.