HelenaRomanoski&NoahBean

Mr.CesarDaniel
Science9B

Photosynthesisvs.Respiration

Inordertolearnmoreaboutrespirationandphotosynthesis,ourscienceclassperformed
alabusingwaterplacedindifferentbottles.Wepredictthatduringtheday,theresultsofthe
waterplacedinthelightbottlewillbeautotrophic,becausesupposedlyphotosynthesiswillbe
strongerthanrespiration.Thismeansthatmoreoxygenisproducedthanconsumed.This
processisperformedbyalgaeandmacrophyteplants,anditregulatestheconcentrationof
oxygen.

Tofindoutifthewaterwouldbeautotrophic,orheterotrophicweusedadistinctmethod.
Firstofall,ourscienceteacher,Mr.Cesar,collectedsomewaterfromParqueTingui.Then,he
placedthewaterinthreecupsandputalgaeineachoneaswell.Twobottleswerewrappedwith
aluminiumfoil,andtheothertransparent.Thealuminiumbottleswerelabelleddark1anddark2,
andthethirdbottlewaslabelledlight.Thebottleswereleftoutsideinthesunforapproximately
oneday.Afterwaitingforthisperiodoftime,wewalkedoutsidetocheckwhatwasdifferent.We
noticedchangesinrespirationandphotosynthesisusingthermometersandavernieroxygen
probe.Inclass,wemadeatableonthewhiteboardandrecordedallthedataonit.Ourmain
observationswerethatwecouldseesimilartemperatures,butwetriedtomakeitaconstant
variable.

Byobservingthegraph,wecan
concludethatduringthedaytime,
photosynthesisisgreaterthanrespiration
inthelightbottle.Andwhenweanalyzeit,
wecanseeitdisplaysthedifferencein
concentrationofoxygen.Although
respirationwasmatchedat0.92,
photosynthesisreached1.04.Judgingby
theresults,ourhypothesiswasclearly
correct.Wehadpredictedthattheresults
inthelightbottlewouldbeautotrophic,
sincephotosynthesisisstrongerinthis
case.Andourpredictionmatchedour
result.

Afterwatchingthebottlesandobservingchanges,wenoticedthattheresultsarenotvery
big.Therespirationwas0.92andphotosynthesiswas1.04,veryclosenumbers.Theoxygen
concentrationlevelwasfairlylowonbothbottles,whichleadsustoconcludingthatthe
magnitudeisnotverybig.

Thisexperimentwasveryfundamentalforunderstandingthedifferenceintheprocesses
ofrespirationandphotosynthesis.Itwashelpfultolearnhowtomeasuretheoxygenlevelsin
eachofthebottles,anditsinterestingtolearnmoreaboutscienceusingeverydayobjects.We
hopetodomoreofthiskindoflabs.