Anna Runnfeldt Science 6 11/14/13 PHOTOSYNTHESIS SUMMATIVE REPORT 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 carbon dioxide (by doubling baking soda) is increased, then the rate of photosynthesis will increase by 31%. Theory: During photosynthesis, energy from the sun is changed into chemical energy, which is used to convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen. The two stages of photosynthesis are capturing suns energy and producing sugars. The first stage is used for capturing energy to power the second stage. The second stage is used for capturing light energy that is used to produce sugars and oxygen from water and carbon dioxide. During the first stage of respiration, molecules are broken down in the cytoplasm and some energy is released. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are said to be opposite processes because the products of photosynthesis are the reactants of respiration. Carbon Dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently double bonded to a single carbon atom. A covalent bond is a chemical bond that involves the sharing of electron pairs between atoms. The relationship between carbon dioxide and temperature is that when the rate of carbon dioxide rises so does the temperature. My hypothesis is based on the 2012 data. In 2012 data showed that the average increase of photosynthesis (based on amount of bubbles) was a 10% increase, after reading this data I believe that our experiment will show an increase of 10% photosynthesis as well. The water releases gases from the baking soda to create CO2, so naturally the more baking soda creates the more carbon dioxide and the more CO2 creates more photosynthesis. Leaving me with a correct hypothesis. PROCEDURE FOR CARBON DIOXIDE (BAKING SODA) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Measure and cut at an angle elodea 7 to 9 cm. Remove a few leaves from end of stem and slightly crush end of stem. Measure baking soda in .5 grams and 1 gram in two different test tubes. Put elodea stem side up in a test tube. Fill test tube with water and baking soda solution (1 gram to 100 mL of water). 6. Time both test tubes at the same time. 7. Put tubes in rack and adjust lamp 5 cm from top of test tubes. 8. Turn on lamps and wait 1 minute.

9. After 1 minute, begin counting small, medium, and large bubbles for 3 minutes. Record data. 10. Repeat with trial 2. DATA/OBSERVATIONS: Trial 1 ___grams Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes with .5 g and 1 g baking soda 11. minutes. Record data. 12. Repeat with trial 2.

Small x 1 CO2 1 gram 30x1=30

Medium x 2 5x2=10

Large x 3 1x3=3

Total 43

.5 gram

6x1=6

4x2=8

0x3=0

14

Small x 1 CO2 1 gram .5 gram 20x1=20 13x1=13

Medium x 2 3x2=6 7x2=14

Large x 3 2x3=6 0x3=0

Total 32 27

Trials 1 2 Total/2 Ave.

.5 g 14 27 41 20.5

1g 43 32 75 37.5

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% Increase 31.9% Decrease 21.4% Decrease 39.7% Decrease 38.0% Increase 1815.8% Increase 21.25% increase

2013 Carbon Dioxide Averages

Average of Oxygen in 3 Minutes 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 GROUP PERIOD 6 7TH GRADE 20.5 37.5 26.3 36.3 0.5 g 1g 44.1 56

CONCLUSION: In this lab, we tested if you double the amount of carbon dioxide, would it affect the rate of photosynthesis in elodea. I hypothesized that if carbon dioxide (by doubling baking soda) is increased, then the rate of photosynthesis will increase by 40%. In our group, there was an average of 45.3% increase. In the whole 6th period class, there was an average of 27.5% increase and in the entire

7th grade there was an average of 21.3% increase. In conclusion, our groups hypothesis was correct but off by 5.3%.

ANALYSIS: Examining 2013 results, there are some inconsistencies in the data. There could be many different reasons why experiments dont work or go as planned. If you take a look at the 2013 data of baking soda, youll see that not every period increased or decreased throwing the average off quite a bit. Period 7 had a huge increase while every other periods numbers were pretty close together. 50% of the classes had an increase when there was less CO2. 1st periods data had a really high amount of oxygen bubbles starting with 108 bubbles. There is a wide range between all of the class periods numbers of bubbles in the data. There are endless ways of why things didnt go as planned in our data. One being, we got a little confused with if the bubbles were coming from the stem or from the leaves so we may have counted a few that werent accurate. We also couldve miscounted the number of oxygen bubbles we saw. Or some groups may have considered a medium sized bubble to be small or to be large. They couldve said they had a lot of large oxygen bubbles when they were really medium bubbles. That couldve affected the data a lot and probably changed some groups data, making it incorrect. Also, the distance from the lamp and the elodea couldve been changed by accident, making the data inaccurate. In time, mistakes like this could be solved to make a more reliable procedure but we only had a short period of time. There are many ways to improve the reliability in this procedure. One thing is that all the groups should double-check the distance of the lamp from the elodea. Another thing is that there should be some kind of model of what a small size, a medium size, and a large size bubble looks like because maybe in my eye a bubble looks small but in someone elses it looks huge. Another reason why a model would be ideal is because if you dont have anything to look at, you cant compare them so youre really just guessing. Finally, each elodea should be prepared the exact same way as other groups so the testing is accurate. All of the ideas above would make the data in this procedure 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.