RB PHOTOSYNTHESIS LAB REPORT PROBLEM: Does increasing the level of carbon dioxide by adding .

5g or 1g of Baking Soda to water affect the rate of photosynthesis in elodea? HYPOTHESIS: If the level of baking soda or carbon dioxide is increased from 0.5g to 1g then the rate of photosynthesis will increase by about 50%. THEORY: Photosynthesis is an important process for all life of earth. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, add water, and use the energy of sunlight to produce sugar or glucose. Photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts of plant cells. Carbon dioxide is one of the ingredients in photosynthesis. Some of the other ingredients are light and water. Carbon dioxide enters the plants through the stomata on the underside of a leaf, and then travels to the tiny organelles called chloroplasts. When the carbon dioxide is there, it goes through a process called photosynthesis and turns into the products, glucose and oxygen. The process is powered by light and cannot happen without it. The products are also the reactants of the chemical equation of cellular respiration. Photosynthesis supports all life on earth and without it neither heterotrophs nor autotrophs would exist. For this experiment we are using the aquatic plant elodea. The scientific name for elodea is Elodea Canadensis. Elodea is only found in freshwater. It provides a habitat for young fish and amphibians. Elodea Canadensis is usually

only used for food when it is decomposed. Elodea also adds oxygen into the water. It is a monocot, has white flowers that grow on it and the leaves are green. Many elodeas exist and they are native to North America.
Adding baking soda to water carbonates the water. When NaHCO3 (baking soda) dissolves in water it separates and spreads throughout the water. As baking soda reacts with the water, the carbon dioxide enters the plant, in which photosynthesis begins. Carbon dioxide is a key element in photosynthesis and without it photosynthesis would not occur. The increase or decrease of carbon dioxide in elodea will differentiate the results, according to my hypothesis. When the elodea gets an increase in carbon dioxide it will be able to take advantage of it, like anything else would if it got an increase of its food source. Since the level of baking soda (containing carbon dioxide) in water was increased by 50% I believe that the rate of photosynthesis will also increase by approximately 50%. So when there is more carbon dioxide the plants rate of photosynthesis will increase and when there is less carbon dioxide the plants rate of photosynthesis reduces. This statement is also what is stated in my hypothesis and is why I think my hypothesis is correct.

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PROCEDURE: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 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 mass in grams and record. Put elodea stem side up in a test tube. Fill test tube with spring water and baking soda solution (1 g to 100 mL of water). Put tube in rack and adjust lamp 5 cm from top of test tube. Turn on lamp and wait 1 minute. After 1 minute, begin counting small, medium and large bubbles for 3 minutes. Record data. Repeat substituting .5 g baking soda to 100mL spring water.

DATA/OBSERVATION: Trial 1 .5g/100mL 1g/100mL Trial 2 .5g/100mL 1g/100mL Small x1 14 x 1=14 12 x 1=12 .5g 46 33 79 39.5 Medium x2 5 x 2=10 6 x 2=12 Large x3 3 x 3= 9 4 x 3=12 1g 29 36 65 32.5 Total 33 36 Small x1 16 x 1=16 2 x 1=2 Medium x2 12 x 2=24 3 x2=6 Large x3 2 x 3=6 7 x 3=21 Total 46 29

Average for Baking Soda Trial 1 2 Total Average

RB 2012 AVERAGE DATA IN 3 MINUTES FROM 5 DIFFERENT CLASSES .5g CLASS PERIOD AVERAGES 1 2 3 4 6 TOTAL/5 AVERAGE Baking Soda 1g % Oxygen Decrease

7.0 17.0 36.7 15.5 39.5 115.7 23.1

19.8 47.3 45.5 22.5 32.5 167.6 33.5

64.6% decrease with less baking soda 64.0% decrease with less baking soda 19.3% decrease with less baking soda 31.1% decrease with less baking soda 17.7% increase with less baking soda 30.9% decrease with less baking soda 31.0% decrease with less baking soda

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Average Oxygen Comparison between 6th Period and 7th Grade

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Group/Class Average Grade Average Amount of Baking Soda Average Oxygen in 3 min.

0.5g 1g

Average Oxygen of 6th Period

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 .5g 1g Amount of Baking Soda Average Oxygen in 3 min.

The Average Rate of Photosynthesis

CONCLUSION: In this lab we tested if increasing the level of carbon dioxide would affect the rate of photosynthesis. Increasing the level of carbon dioxide by adding 0.5g or 1g will not increase the rate of photosynthesis, according to my groups data. However, according to the rest of 7th grades data adding 0.5g or 1g of baking soda will increase the rate of photosynthesis. The 7th grade average was a 31.0% decrease going from 1g to 0.5g. My groups data proved my hypothesis was incorrect but the rest of 7th grade proved my hypothesis correct. The rate of photosynthesis decreased by 17.7% in my groups test. Comparing everyones data, my group was the outlier and majority wins when it comes to science. Therefore increasing the level of carbon dioxide from 0.5g to 1g of baking soda to water does indeed affect the rate of photosynthesis; in fact it increases the rate of photosynthesis by 31.0% in the 7th grades testing.

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EVALUATION/ANALYSIS: I believe that my groups data wasnt very accurate because the mass and weight of both elodea sprigs wasnt the same, and this might have been because both sprigs of elodea might have been in different stages of life. Another reason was because it was different than everyone elses data. However, there was also some disagreement in our group about the sizes of the bubbles when we were counting them, small, medium, or large. The size and mass of the elodea was hard to control for our group because we cant monitor the growth. How we were able to prepare it was a lot easier but I wish we could have done a better job at it. Our group got a 21.5% increase in photosynthesis when baking soda was decreased, but the other groups got a decrease in photosynthesis when baking was decreased. The elodea had a 0.6g difference in mass that might have also supported the invalidity to the lab. Many of these factors made our lab invalid and that is why I think our group got outlier data compared to the others. Photosynthesis is important to life on Earth because without it nothing on Earth would be living. The reason I think this is because humans eat animals and animals (including humans) eat plants. Therefore, a chain reaction would occur without photosynthesis, first killing the lower species that humans eat, such as small animals we use as meat. Then without the lower species the larger animals would die, as the animals died off the humans would too and photosynthetic plants would not exist. However, with the increase of dead bodies fungi, which feed off of decomposed dead things, would drastically increase in quantity but with no oxygen everything would die including fungi. In conclusion, all living things would die off because of the lack of food and the lack of oxygen, so all living things on Earth depend on it to survive, thrive, and reproduce (the scientific purpose of life). I think that when groups that restore habitats for pollinators like the Billion Tree Campaign will have an extreme impact on Earth from planting more than 12 billion trees in a short amount of time. First of all, when heard of the Billion Tree Campaign and their goal I thought it was impossible. I was wrong. However, I was right about the size of impact it made on the world. Professor Wangari Maathai and Albert II, Prince of Monaco had an idea, this idea was to plant 1 billion trees (at the beginning of their campaign) this idea, this hope changed over the next few years and their ideas made them many peoples heroes. The trees that the campaign planted were all over the world. With the wide spread of trees the ecological system grew stronger, this would have most likely not have happened if Wangari Maathai and Albert II had not unfurled the message clearly enough. Luckily, they did and because of this the ecological system is thriving much better than before. The mission was a success and affected everyone around the world (including animals), even if some people did not know the campaign existed.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY: "CalPhotos: Elodea canadensis ." CalPhotos . N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+0510+ 1823>. Coolidge-Stolz M.D., Elizabeth, et al. Focus On Life Science. Boston, Mass: Prentice Hall, 2008. "Elodea AQUAPLANT." AQUAPLANT. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. <http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/alphabeticalindex/elodea/>. "Native Freshwater Plants - American Waterweed - Elodea." Washington State Department of Ecology | Home Page | ECY WA DOE. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. <http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/native/elodea.html>. " -- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - BillionTree Campaign Site ." -- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - BillionTree Campaign Site . N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.plant-for-theplanet-billiontreecampaign.org/>. Young, Paul. The Botany Coloring Book. Cambridge, New York: Harper and Row, 1982.