Stark 1

Britton Stark
Mrs.Reifke
AP Biology, Period 1
9 October 2015
The Examination of Respiration of Germinating Seeds in a Controlled Environment
Introduction:
Purpose/Problem: To observe the creation of oxygen gas through respiration of
germinating seeds compared to non-germinating seeds and a control of glass beads.
Background Observations/Information: Living systems require free energy and matter
to maintain order, to grow, and to reproduce. Energy deficiencies are not only detrimental to
individual organisms, but they can cause disruptions at the population and ecosystem levels as
well. organisms employed various strategies that have been conserved through evolution to
capture, use, and store free energy. Autotrophic organisms capture free energy from the
environment through photosynthesis and chemosynthesis, whereas heterotrophic organisms
harvest free energy from carbon compounds produced by other organisms. The process of
cellular respiration harvest the energy and carbon compounds to produce ATP that powers most
of the vital cellular processes. In eukaryotes, respiration occurs in the mitochondria within cells.
If sufficient oxygen is available, glucose may be oxidized completely in a series of enzyme
mediated steps by the following reaction c6h12o6 + 602 equals 6 co2 + 6 h2o + energy. the
chemical oxidation of glucose has important implications for the measurement of respiration.
From the equation, if glucose is the energy source, then for every molecule of oxygen consumed,
one molecule of carbon dioxide is produced. In this experiment there is use of glass beads in
respirometers. It is necessary to have these control of glass beads because it will show the
consumption of oxygen in respiration by seed compared to nothing at all in order to construct a
baseline data set. many factors can alter the rate of respiration in cells. Some of these factors are
temperature and pressure which can change the rate of respiration in this experiment by possibly
denaturing certain aspects and organelles in the respiration process As temperature and pressure
change during the experiment so too does the measure of volume of gases in the respirometer
which are being consumed and produced. As temperature increases the volume of gas will
decrease. If pressure did not change, neither would the volume. Extreme temperatures could also
destroy the organelles responsible for respiration and halt all consumption of oxygen.Certain
situations would alter the rate of respiration due to temperature. For example: if a mammal and a
reptile of equal size are in a room at 10 degrees Celsius. The mammal would need to respire
more in order to maintain core body temperature whereas the reptile, who cannot control its own
body temperature, would respire at a much lower rate. If the same animals were in a much
warmer environment of about 22 degrees Celsius, they would be performing respiration at very
similar rates due to the temperature difference. If this experiment to be performed using living
instead of germinating seeds the results would be altered due to the plants ability to perform

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photosynthesis carbon dioxide produced from cellular respiration and converted back into
oxygen.
Hypothesis: The hypothesis is that the glass beads and the dried beads will not respire
and will therefore have no change in the volume of the container as time changes whereas the
respirometer containing germinating seeds will show changes in volume over time.
Materials and Methods:
Materials:
Germinating Peas
Dry Peas
Glass Beads
Safety Goggles
Glass Cylinder with attached weight
Cotton
Non-absorbent Cotton
Glass Pipette
Large Plastic Pan
Water
KOH Solution (lye)
Thermometer
Rubber Stopper
Food Coloring
Graduated Cylinder
Procedure:
1. Step 1: fill large plastic pan with water until it is about half full.
2. Step 2: add three drops of food coloring to water bath.
3. Step 3: Carefully insert a small plug of absorbent cotton into the barrel of the
glass cylinder with attached weight which will serve as the bottom of the respirometer.
make sure the cotton is all the way to the end of the cylinder, this may be achieved by
packing it with a thin stem pipette.
4. Step 4: add several drops of KOH solution until the absorbent cotton is fully
saturated with no excess solution. Caution: make sure you are wearing goggles to protect
your eyes because KOH is caustic.
5. Step 5: add a small plug of non absorbent cotton on top of the absorbent cotton
plug already inside the barrel of the respirometer. You can pack the cotton to the end with
the barrel of a clean thin stem pipette.
6. Step 6: using a graduated cylinder filled with 10 milliliters of water, measure out
4 milliliters of germinated peas.
7. Step 7: carefully insert the rubber stop on to the top of the respirometer and
attach the large glass pipe at. Be careful of the glass is fragile and may cause injury to
hands if handled inappropriately.
8. Step at 8: perform steps 3 through 7 again and with dry and glass bead and also
glass beads alone in place of the germinating peas.
9. Step 9: insert tip of thermometer into water bath and rest against edge a large
plastic pan so that degrees Celsius is showing.
10. Step 10: place all three in the room temperature water bath at the same time and
start a record of time, temperature and initial volume.
11. Step 11: examine the change in the volume of the respirometers as the Peas
perform photosynthesis. Record the change in volume every 5 minutes starting at 0
minutes and continuing until 25 minutes.
12. Step 12: at the end of 25 minutes, remove the respirometers from the water bath.
Calculate the total volume change in each respirometer and record.

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13. Step 13: calculate the change in volume during each time interval. To do this
subtract the volume position at the beginning of the time interval from the volume
position at the end of the time interval. Record your values.
Results:
Qualitative Observations: The pipette connected to the respirometer containing nongerminating seeds was above the surface of the water for the beginning of the experiment. The
non-germinating seeds expanded through the absorbing of water which increased the volume of
the seeds in the respirometer.
Data Tables:
Table 1: Comparison of Respiration Rates in Different Respirometers
Temp.

Time

(C)

(Minutes)

Beads Alone
Reading at
time x

Germination Peas

Dry Peas + Beads

Difference

Reading at
time x

Difference

Total
Difference

Reading at
time x

Difference

Total
Difference

17

0.88

0.85

0.95

18

0.87

-0.01

0.78

-0.07

-0.07

0.95

17

10

0.87

0.67

-0.11

-0.18

0.94

-0.01

-0.01

17

15

0.87

0.59

-0.08

-0.26

0.94

-0.01

17

20

0.87

0.51

-0.08

-0.34

0.94

-0.01

17

25

0.87

0.42

-0.09

-0.43

0.94

-0.01

Calculations:
Volume Change = Final Volume - Initial Volume
Beads Alone:
5 minutes :0.88 - 0.88 = 0
10 minutes :0.88 - 0.87 = -0.01
15 minutes :0.87 - 0.87 = 0
20 minutes :0.87 - 0.87 = 0
25 minutes :0.87 - 0.87 = 0
Germinating Peas:
5 minutes :0.78 - 0.85 = -0.07
10 minutes :0.67 - 0.78 = -0.11
15 minutes :0.59 - 0.67 = -0.08
20 minutes :0.51 - 0.59 = -0.08
25 minutes :0.42 - 0.51 = -0.09
Dry Peas + Glass Beads:
5 minutes :0.95 - 0.95 = 0

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10 minutes :0.95 - 0.95 = 0
15 minutes :0.94 - 0.95 = -0.01
20 minutes :0.94 - 0.94 = 0
25 minutes :0.94 - 0.94 = 0
Graphs:

Figure 1: Visual Representation of Volume change Over Time

Discussion:
Conclusion: The hypothesis is that the glass beads and the dried beads will not respire
and will therefore have no change in the volume of the container as time changes whereas the
respirometer containing germinating seeds will show changes in volume over time. During the
course of this experiment the hypothesis was confirmed as shown through the dramatic change of
-.43 milliliters of volume whereas the other two respirometers only showed a combined change
of -.01 as shown in table 1. In this lab many variables were controlled in order to ensure accurate
causation results. These controls include: the total volume of each respirometer which was
controlled through the careful counting and measuring of volume of each containers contents.
More controls, the time that each respirometer was submerged, and the temperature of the water
bath for the respirometers. The independent variable or the manipulated variable for this
experiment was the contents of the respirometers which indicated the change in the oxygen
levels of the respirometers and therefore the volume of the restaurant is. This change in oxygen

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and carbon dioxide level is the dependent variables for this experiment. Some possible points of
error in this experiment are that there was minor tension exposed to the water bath during the
course of the volume change examination. Another source of error would be the small
discrepancies in perceived volume and therefore volume change. A third form of error would be
the hasty measuring of volume in the initial takings due to a time restraint which may result in
errors in volume but can be remedied by change in volume.