Warren Niles 12/6/13 Period 6 Science Summative Photosynthesis Lab Report 7th Grade Science 2013 ELODEA AND

PHOTOSYNTHESIS LAB REPORT PROBLEM: How does the color of light (blue, red) affect the rate of photosynthesis in Elodea at a distance of 5cm from the plant? HYPOTHESIS: If the color of light is changed from blue to red then the rate of photosynthesis will decrease by about 50%. THEORY/BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Photosynthesis is the production of ATP, energy, in a plant utilizing sunlight, 6H2O, or water, and 6CO2, or carbon dioxide. In the first stage of photosynthesis sunlight is converted into a stable chemical energy called Carbohydrate. This carbohydrate is then delivered to the chloroplasts where photosynthesis takes place. The 6H2O is obtained from the roots that absorb the water from the ground and sends it to the chloroplasts through the xylem. The 6CO2, which is received through the under side of the leaf, also known as the stomata, is combined with the sunlight and water to create glucose and Oxygen. At first the sunlight is an unstable energy and the electrons have a high chance of diffusing. In order to prevent this unstable damage the electrons from the solar energy are discharged creating an energy rich bond between ADP adenosine diphosphate and PI (phosphate) to create ATP adenosine triphosphate. This process is called photophosphorylation. This energy is then delivered to the cells that contain mitochondria that can do cellular respiration. One of the main components of photosynthesis is light. People measure light intensity by using a spectrum. The light spectrum is the entire range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. Light has a large spectrum, but as humans are eyes can only see a certain part of spectrum called the visible spectrum, which is in between ultraviolet and infrared. The reason why we see color is because that color of visible light is being reflected off of the item. For example, an apple is red because it absorbs all colors of light, but red. That red light is then reflected into our eyes, which triggers our red cones, which in return makes us see red. Since chlorophyll, the primary pigment in a plant is green, it reflects green light and absorbs all the other colors. As said early photosynthesis uses absorbed light that enters the chloroplast to photosynthesize. In chloroplast there are three main pigments are: Carotenoids, red, orange, and yellow pigments, chlorophyll, green pigments, and Betalains, red and yellow pigments. This means that the colors of light that are absorbed the most are blue, purple, and red. In this lab my group will be testing how the color of light affects plants. I think that a plant under red light will photosynthesize less than a plant under blue light by 52% because blue light has a shorter wavelength by 175 nm, and since the velocity of light through a transparent medium, like water or glass, is proportional to the wavelength red light will move slightly faster through water than blue light. Even though the 175 nm

Warren Niles 12/6/13 Period 6 Science Summative Photosynthesis Lab Report difference in wave length makes blue light look as if it will photosynthesize 26% more, red light moves about 1% faster, however blue light contains more energy than red light so that is why I think that the rate of photosynthesis of a plant that goes from blue to red light will decrease by 52%.

PROCEDURE: 1. Measure and cut at an angle elodea 7 cm at 180 angle. 2. Remove leaves until each elodea until it only has 4 leaves and slightly crush end of stem. 3. Measure mass in grams and record. 4. Put elodea stem side up in a test tube. 5. Fill test tube with 100ml of spring water and 1tsp of baking soda solution (1 tsp. to 100 mL of water). 6. Put tube in rack and adjust lamp with blue light 5 cm from top of test tube. 7. Turn on lamp and wait 1 minute. 8. After 1 minute, begin counting small, medium and large bubbles for 3 minutes. Record data. 9. Take a new Elodea 10. Repeat with 2) red light. 3) Red to switch at the 1 minute mark Blue 4) Blue to Red switch at 1 minute mark 11. Repeat for Trial 2

DATA/OBSERVATIONS:

Warren Niles 12/6/13 Period 6 Science Summative Photosynthesis Lab Report Trial 1 What it is Testing: Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes with blue and red light Small x 1 Elodea Weight/Color/Time 1.6g/Blue/3 1.5g/Red/3 72x1=72 20x1=20 Medium x 2 12 x 2=24 3x2=6 Large x 3 4x3=12 0 Total Total= 72+24+12=108 Total= 20+6+0=26

Notes: *The elodea that was under the red light photosynthesized much slower than the elodea under blue light. *The elodea under red light weighed 0.1 gram less than the elodea under blue light. *The red counter seemed to be going a little slower than normal.

Trial 2 What it is Testing: Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes with blue to red light and red to blue light. Small x 1 Elodea Weight/Color/Time 1.5g/Blue-Red/3min 1.5g/Blue/1.5 min 1.5g/Red/1.5 min Total= 46x1=46 Total= 15x2=30 Total= 3x3=9 Total= 85 Blue=27x1=27 Blue=2x8=16 Blue=3x3=9 Blue= 27+30+9=52 Red=19x1=19 Red=7x2=14 Red=0x3=0 Red= 19+14+0=33 Medium x 2 Large x 3 Total Oxygen Produced

1.1g/RedBlue/3 min Total= 56x1=56 Total= 8x2=16 Total= 1x3=3 Total= 56+16+3=75 1.1g/Red/1.5 min Red=25x1=25 Red= 3x2=6 Red= 0x3=0 Red= 25+6+0=31 1.1g/Blue/1.5 min Blue= 31x1=31 Blue= 5x2=10 Blue= 1x3=3 Blue= 31+10+3=44 Notes: *Oxygen Bubbles were dislodged in the swap. *We lost 3 seconds of photosynthesizing because of the swap. *The elodea that went from BlueRed weighed 0.4g more than the elodea that went from Red-Blue light.

PERIOD 6 AVERAGE DATA IN 3 MINUTES

TRIALS 1 2 Total Average

Warren Niles 12/6/13 Period 6 Science Summative Photosynthesis Lab Report COLOR OF LIGHT BLUE (Oxygen RED (Oxygen Produced) Produced) 108 26 96 64 204/2 90/2 102 45

2013 AVERAGE DATA IN 3 MINUTES FROM 6 DIFFERENT CLASSES COLOR OF LIGHT BLUE RED % Oxygen Decrease/Increase CLASS PERIOD AVERAGES 1 58.5 70 19.6% increase 2 63.5 19 70.1% decrease 3 39 24.3 37.7% decrease 4 112 85.8 23.3% decrease 6 102 45 55.8% decrease 7 68.5 50.8 25.8%decrease TOTAL/6 443.5/6 294.9/6 33.4% AVERAGE 73.9 49.2 33.4% Graph

Average Number of O2 Bubbles Produced In 3 Minutes

Average Amount of O2 Produced From Elodea Under a Blue and then Red Light After 3 Minutes
120 100 80 60 40 20 0 102 73.9 49.2 45 Blue Light Red Light Class of 2013 Groups Period 6

CONCLUSION:

Warren Niles 12/6/13 Period 6 Science Summative Photosynthesis Lab Report For my photosynthesis summative report, my group tested how the color of light affects the rate of photosynthesis in plants. In order to test this theory my group took 4 pieces of elodea, a water plant that is normally used in aquariums to oxygenate the water, and wrote down 2 trails to test our theory. For the first trail we took two pieces of elodea and then placed them in two different glass test tubes filled with carbonated water. One of the elodea was under red light and the other elodea was under blue light. We timed it for 30 seconds and then we recorded our data. For trial 2 we got two different elodeas and did almost the exact same procedure, but the only difference was that we switched the color of light that the plants were under at the 1 minute mark. My hypothesis was if the color of light is changed from blue to red then the rate of photosynthesis will decrease by about 50%. My group's average rate of decrease of photosynthesis from a plant under blue light to a plant under red light was 55.8%. My hypothesis was incorrect by 5.8% of this data.

EVALUATION/ANALYSIS:

Warren Niles 12/6/13 Period 6 Science Summative Photosynthesis Lab Report Unfortunately for this photosynthesis lab our second trails data was invalid. As I said before we moved the test tubes containing the elodea and the baking soda solution. Unfortunately the oxygen bubbles were dislodged as we made the swap. We also lost a total of 3 seconds of photosynthesis. However during our first trail I believe that our group made a mistake. We had one person watch the elodea under the blue light and another person watched the elodea under the red light. Their jobs were to watch the elodea and count how many bubbles they saw coming out of the stem and then decide whether they are small, medium or big. First of all there were two inconsistencies. First the counter for the red group wasnt paying enough attention to the elodea and they wer e also not catching the smaller bubbles. I believe that she made these mistakes because she was looking through a glass tube. Glass distorts the light that bounces of our eyes to see things. However the blue group had the same handicap so I believe that the girl who was in charge of counting the bubbles for the red group was slow or had bad eyesight. In order to fix this problem in the future each group should test the eyesight of their fellow team members and then the person with the best eyesight will be chosen to count the bubbles. Another inconsistency with this test is that and no one calculated how many leaves each elodea had, or the surface area of the leaves. Also since the elodeas are different they might have a different number of chloroplasts, which can also lead to discrepancies in the data. Also the two elodeas were 0.1 gram apart in weight I conclude that if the red one weighed 0.1 gram more it would have produced 27.8 oxygen bubbles. Even though my groups tests were invalid my hypothesis was still close to the class average. Without including my groups data, the new averages for the percentage of decrease of the rate of photosynthesis from blue light to red light is 27.086383601757%. However, in the set of 2013 data for the color of light the outliers were periods 1, 2 and 6. So the new average rate of decrease is 26.697038724374%. After doing the math on this I can estimate how someone got this number. First of all blue light is a 475 nm on the spectrum and red light is a 650. Therefore the difference in nm is how much faster blue light moves. This means that blue light moves through space 26.697038724374% faster than red light. In conclusion, even though my hypothesis was wrong and most of the 2013 data was invalid that doesnt matter, because I found the pattern and have come up with another theory on why the elodea under red light photosynthesized 26.697038724374% slower than the elodea under blue light. But thats the thing with science. The more you know the more you realize what you dont know. Aristotle.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Warren Niles 12/6/13 Period 6 Science Summative Photosynthesis Lab Report

"Molecular Expressions Microscopy Primer: Physics of Light and Color Primary Colors." Molecular Expressions Microscopy Primer: Physics of Light and Color - Primary Colors. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. <http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/lightandcolor/primaryhome.html "UCSB Science Line sqtest." UCSB Science Line sqtest. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. <http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=3898>. "What Color is the Sun?." Stanford Solar Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. <http://solar-center.stanford.edu/SID/activities/Green

3 References Proper Lab Format as indicated in instructions All research notes and rough draft include Due 12/6/13