Internal Assessment Activity (IAA)

Series 4 valid from June 2010 to May 2011

Investigating respiration

Information for students

Before attempting the IAA

You need to have done practical work, to show some physical properties of
metals (including electrical conductivity) and the conduction of electricity
in aqueous solutions of salts.

When doing your practical / investigative work, you need to think about
• how you can plan the investigation to collect valid data and reliable data
• why you might need to repeat the experiment
• how to plot a graph from your results
• recognising and describing patterns or trends in data
• drawing conclusions, evaluating the strength of the evidence and the validity and
reliability of your results.

The Internal Assessment Activity (IAA)

In the IAA, you will be assessed on
• planning (P)
• extracting information and using data (EIUD)
• interpretation, judgement and opinion (IJO).
You will not see the IAA in advance.
The IAA will take 45 minutes and will be written under controlled conditions.
You will not be allowed any information from your investigation.
You will not be able to change or repeat the IAA but your teacher may give you
feedback to help you understand how to improve your skills.
Investigating respiration

1. Describe the method you have used to collect your data on the rate
of respiration on respiring seeds using a diagram
Equipment
• Respirometer
• 10 g of actively respiring seeds
• Soda lime
• Coloured liquid
• Needle syringe
• Permanent OHT marker pen
• gauze
• Solvent to remove marker
• Stopclock
• Eye protection
Method
Place enough soda lime in the test tube to absorb the carbon dioxide
produced by the seeds during photosynthesis and from the air coming in.
Place 10 g of actively respiring seeds on the gauze into the test tube and
replace the bung. Put the test tube into a water bath in order to keep the
temperature steady. Put a drop coloured liquid into the glass tube using a
needle syringe. Open the connection (three-way tap) to the syringe and
move the liquid to O mm on the pipette which is towards the end of the
scale that is furthest from the test tube. Mark the starting position of the
fluid with the marker. Isolate the respirometer by closing the connection to
the syringe and the atmosphere and immediately start the stop clock. Mark
the position of the fluid at 1 minute intervals for 5 minutes. At the end of 5
mins open the connection to outside air. Measure the distance travelled by
the liquid during each minute. Repeat the experiment and using the gas
syringe push the fluid back to 0 mm. Record your data in a suitable table.

2. Explain how you ensured that your results were valid and reliable

Valid :
Use water bath to keep the temperature steady since respiration releases
heat. Use soda lime to absorb CO2 so the the fluid only moves due to oxygen
consumption. Use the same apparatus and type and amount of seeds and
same amount of soda lime and same temperature in the repetitions. Fresh
soda lime in every repetition in case it becomes saturated.

Reliable:
Repeat the experiment in order to get concordant data.
Peter did an experiment similar to yours and found the following data.

Time (mins) Distance moved by drop (mm)

0 0
1 15
2 37
3 56
4 69
5 81
6 104
7 127
8 140

Plot the data on the graph below and draw a line of best fit
 3. Why did the liquid drop moved along the capillary during the
investigation?

Seeds were absorbing the oxygen needed for respiration, the same
amount of carbon dioxide is release during respiration but that is
absorbed by the soda lime so the fluid only moves due to the absorption
of oxygen. The pressure inside is less than the atmospheric pressure so
the fluid is pushed by the higher pressure outside towards the lower
inside.

4. Describe the pattern shown by the results.

As time passes the distance moved by the fluid increases. During the 8 mins
the fluid moved by 140 mm. The fluid does not move at a constant rate. Use
graph to comment on big changes and small changes in order to show that it
does not move at a constant rate. The fluid moves only due to the usage of
oxygen by the respiring seeds and not due to carbon dioxide since the soda
lime absorbs all of it.

Peter then decided to extent its investigation and so investigated the rate
of respiration at different temperatures and recorded the results below.

Temperature( ºC) Total distance moved by the drop

(mm)
10 9
15 18
20 28
25 47
30 69
35 112
40 90
45 54
50 29
 5. Choose the most appropriate method to plot the results on the grid
above.

Put temp on x-axis and total distance move on y-axis. Do smooth line
curve.

6. Describe the pattern that you see on the above graph.

As the temperature increases the total distance moved by the fluid

increases up to a point and then it decreases. As the temp increases from 10
to 35 degrees the distance moved increases by 103 mm. But after 35
degrees up to 50 degrees the distance decreases. The largest distance
moved happens at 35 while the lowest distance moved happens at 10
degrees.

7. What conclusions can you draw about the respiration of organisms at

different temperatures?

Organisms respire best at 35 degrees since total distance moved at that

point was the largerst This is because 35 is the optimum temp for enzymes
to work and therefore the rate of respiration is at its highest. Organisms
respire the least at 10 degrees since their enzymes do not work as fast so
the rate of respiration in low. After the 35 the rate of respiration decreases
because the temp is above the optimum and enzymes start to become
denatured or the seeds might be destroyed from the high temperature.

Peter repeated the practical at 40 ºC and got a result of 89 mm

8. Suggest a reason why he repeated the practical at this temperature

and comment of the result obtained.

There was a huge decrease between the 35-40 degrees therefore by doing it
again he excludes any errors that might have occurred. The result was not
the same as before but still showed a big decrease in the distance moved.
9. Suggest how Peter or you can improve your investigations in order to
receive more reliable and valid data.

More reliable:
Repeat the experiment to get concordant results
Take more reading using more time to record the oxygen uptake
Take more readings around the temperature peak which was between
35-40 degrees to confirm the optimum temperature for maximum
respiration and exclude any anomalous data.

More valid:
Make sure the water bath give a steady temperature. You’re a
manometer with a more detailed scale in order you data to be more
valid. Increase amount of soda lime to ensure that all carbon dioxide is
absorbed and quicker.