Victoria Fairall April 20TH, 2014 Block

Radish Lab Reflection Question: Is there a difference in biomass between radish seeds grown in the light vs. dark treatments? Procedure: 1. We received a petri dish that had a presoaked paper towel in the dish. 2. Then we got a weigh boat and weighed out 0.5 grams of radish seed. 3. We were then told what treatment our seeds would be going through. 4. After we weighed our seeds, we scattered them all over the paper towel making sure the seeds didnt touch. 5. Then we labeled our petri dishes with team names and what treatment we were going to be doing. 6. After we labeled our petri dishes, Ms. Dwyer put the seeds that needed the light treatment in the light, and the seeds that needed the dark treatment were put in the dark. 7. For a week Ms. Dwyer watered the seeds with 10ml of H2O every day. 8. After a week we got our seeds back which had grown into seedlings. We measured the seedlings to find the biggest one in each group. 9. After we got the measurements we received an envelope. On the envelope we wrote the treatment, team name, and the height of the biggest seedling. 10. Then we put the seedlings in the envelope, and put the envelope in the dehydrator for 24 hours.

11. After 24 hours, we weighed the biomass. After we found out the biomass we put the final biomass on the envelope and calculated the change in biomass. Hypothesis: If we grow 0.5 grams of radish seeds in the dark, and 0.5 grams of radish seeds in the light, then I think the seeds grown in the light will increase in biomass by at least + 0.2 grams, because plants need light to photosynthesize in order to survive, and they take carbon out of the air and turn it into glucose, which adds mass. Data Analysis:

Tallest Seedling Average for Each Treatment

5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Av. Max Dark Height (cm) Av. Max Light Height (cm)

Height (cm)

Averaged Treatments

Average Change In Biomass for Each Treatment

0.3 0.25 0.2

Biomass (g)

0.15 0.1 0.05 0 -0.05 -0.1 -0.15 Av. Dark Final Biomass (g) Av. Light Final Biomass (g)

Averaged Treatments

Results: Our qualitative data showed that radish seeds grown in light for a week and turned dark red and green in color. The radish seeds grown in the dark were white and light yellow. After we dried the seedlings we found out that the radish seeds that were in the light gained biomass, but the radish seeds that were in the dark lost biomass. The tallest average seedling for the dark treatment was 4.6 centimeters, it ranged from 0 to 4.6 centimeters. The tallest average seedling for the light treatment was 1.4, it ranged from 0 to 1.4 centimeters. The average final change in biomass for the dark treatment was -0.13, and the average final change in biomass for the light treatment was 0.26. The difference between both final biomasses was 0.13.

Discussion: My hypothesis was partially correct. I had hypothesized that the radish seeds in the dark wouldnt grow at all, because they didnt have light to photosynthesize. But I learned that radish seeds can still grow in the dark, because there is a part in seeds called the endosperm. The endosperm is an area where there are reserved sugars for a plant so that when it is in the ground without light, the seed can still sprout and grow. The dark treated plants lost biomass, because they were respiring. From asking our question we learned that the dark treated seeds are able to grow in the dark, but they dont get their glucose the same way that the light treated plants do. The glucose that they get is from the endosperm, but they have to do cellular respiration to break down the glucose. To grow, they spread out their molecules, which make them look larger, but their biomass is smaller. The dark plants might have grown more than the light plants in height, but they lost biomass. Conclusion: When we asked our question we had background knowledge from a TZ test that showed us seeds respire (Cellular Respiration). So we did know that there would be cellular respiration, we also knew that there was going to be photosynthesis. The photosynthesizing and cellular respiration contributed to how the seeds biomass from each treatment changed. We learned that the more plants respire, the more biomass they lose. We also learned that if they photosynthesize more (create more glucose), then they gain additional biomass. The light treated seeds showed us that they were photosynthesizing and respiring, and the dark treated seeds only respired. Some sources of error that might have made the experiment not exact were: the fact that we didnt water over the weekend, we had the dark seeds sitting out in the light before we put the seeds in the envelopes, and when we were touching the seeds we could have lost some of them. To get deeper into the concept that plants do both cellular respiration and photosynthesis I would do a TZ test. TZ is a special liquid indicator that you can put a seed or plant in and the TZ turns

bright pink/red wherever there is cellular respiration. I would take a plant and see where the TZ is; It would be where the plant is respiring. To see if the plant is photosynthesizing, we can use quantitative data, such as biomass, This would help me get deeper into the concept that plants dont just do one or the other (cellular respiration or photosynthesis), but in order to live they need to do both processes, and in the absence of either one these processes the plant would not be able to survive.