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12/5/13
Ana Espina

Cell Respiration Lab
Research Question:
How does the temperature and moistness affect how much carbon dioxide a pea
gives off?
Hypothesis:
If I measure the amount of carbon dioxide a pea gives off depending on if it
is germinating or non-germinating, or cold or room temperature, then the
germinating peas at room temperature will give off the most carbon dioxide
because germinating peas are actively growing, so they are consuming oxygen
(cellular respiration) and thus, producing carbon dioxide as waste, while dry peas
are dormant and not actively growing.
Variables:
Independent- The independent variables in this experiment are; temperature and
if the peas are germinating or dry.
Dependent- The dependent variable in this experiment is the amount of Carbon
dioxide produced as a waste product from the peas.
Controlled- The amount of peas used (20); Container, the Carbon dioxide gas
sensor, and the amount of time peas are measure for carbon dioxide gas wich is
600 seconds or 10 minutes.
Materials:
The materials in this experiment are; twenty germinating peas, 20 dry peas, ice,
water, a carbon dioxide gas sensor, a container, and two beakers.


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12/5/13
Ana Espina

Procedure:
1. Collect twenty germinating peas and place them in the container, make
sure there are only twenty, as this is a controlled variable.
2. Plug in the carbon dioxide gas sensor and record the carbon dioxide
emitting from the peas for 10 minutes or 600 seconds, this is a controlled
variable.
3. After the 10 minutes record the carbon dioxide measurements and place
the germinating peas into a beaker that contains ice and water, this is
necessary for the third trial.
4. Place twenty dry peas (controlled variable) in the container and record the
carbon dioxide from the peas for ten minutes or 600 seconds.
5. After ten minutes, record the carbon dioxide measurements and place the
dry peas in a beaker.
6. Take the germinating peas that were chilling in the beaker with ice and
water, and place them in the container to be measured for carbon dioxide.
Make sure to drain the peas of the water and ice before placing them in the
container to be measured.
7. Record the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the chilled/germinating
peas for 10 minutes or 600 seconds.
8. After ten minutes, extract the chilled/germinating peas from the container
and rinse the container.

Data analysis:
Raw data was recorded every second for 600 seconds. The average carbon
dioxide for the dry peas was 1147. The average for the cold and
germinating peas was 1168. The data for the first trial of germinating peas
was lost. From the data we can still concur that the dry peas definitely did
not produce a significant amount of carbon dioxide gas.

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Ana Espina









1125
1130
1135
1140
1145
1150
1155
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
9
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
3
3
1
4
4
Dry
germinating
Linear (germinating)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1
3
5
6
9
1
0
3
1
3
7
1
7
1
2
0
5
2
3
9
2
7
3
3
0
7
3
4
1
3
7
5
4
0
9
4
4
3
4
7
7
5
1
1
5
4
5
5
7
9
Cold and Germinating
ppm
Linear (ppm)
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Ana Espina

Conclusion:
According to the data available the most carbon dioxide gas was produced
with the peas that were germinating and cold. A big weakness in the experiment
is that the data for the first trial of germinating peas was lost. This factor could
have changed the whole outcome of the experiment. From the data collected we
can still conclude that germinating peas in general are better producers of carbon
dioxide gas that just dry peas. Since some data was lost we cannot yet conclude if
germinating peas produce more carbon dioxide gas if theyre cold or room
temperature. So a weakness is that we cant conclude the affects of temperature
on germinating seeds. If I could repeat the experiment I would also test the
affects of temperature on dry peas to compare them more efficiently with the
temperature changes of the germinating peas.