Jack Robertson December 5, 2013 3 Science

PHOTOSYNTHESIS SUMMATIVE PROJECT

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 be 40% greater in blue. Theory: Photosynthesis is the process by which a plant uses the suns energy to produce food. The sunlight is absorbed through the chlorophyll. The gas enters through the stomata, which is tiny holes under the leaf. The products of photosynthesis are sugar and oxygen. In this lab we will be testing the rate of photosynthesis between red and blue light. Showing from last years data, there was a 33.4% decrease from red to blue light. I infer that our data will be within a 20% - 30% decrease from blue to red light. PROCEDURE FOR COLOR OF LIGHT 1. Measure and cut at an angle elodea 7 to 9 cm. 2. Remove a few leaves from end of stem 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 spring water and 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. Repeat with red light. 10. Repeat for Trial 2

Jack Robertson December 5, 2013 3 Science

DATA/OBSERVATIONS:
Trial 1) 1.1 grams Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes with blue and red light
Small x 1 Color Red 8x1 Medium x 2 1x2 Large x 3 2x3 Total 16

Blue

7x1

0x2

0x3

Notes: Trial 2) 0.7 grams Oxygen Produced in 3 minutes with blue and red lightm
Small x 1 Color Red Blue 19x1 33x1 Medium x 2 1x2 4x2 Large x 3 0x3 1x3 Total 21 44

Averages
Trail 1 Trail 2 Trail 1/2 Average Red 16 21 51 18.5 Blue 7 44 37 25.5

Larger number subtract smaller number take the difference and divide by larger number

Jack Robertson December 5, 2013 3 Science 2013 AVERAGE DATA IN 3 MINUTES FROM 6 DIFFERENT CLASSES COLOR OF LIGHT
BLUE CLASS PERIOD AVERAGES 1 2 3 4 6 7 TOTAL/6 AVERAGE RED % Oxygen Decrease/Increase

58.5 63.5 39 112 102 68.5 443.5/6 73.9

70 19 24.3 85.8 45 50.8 294.9/6 49.2

%16.4 increase %70 Decrease %37 decrease %23.6 decrease %55.8 decrease %25.8 decrease 33.4 decrease

Average Data Amounts

80 Amount of oxygen bubbles produced in three minutes 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Group 1 Period 3 7th Grade 25.5 18.5 39 24.3 49.2 Blue Light Red Light 73.9

Conclusion: In this lab we tested the rate of photosynthesis between blue and red light at a distance of 5cm away from the elodea. I hypothesized that if the color of light is changed from blue to red then the rate of photosynthesis will be 40% greater in blue. In my group we found that there was a 27% increase in blue light. Compared to the seventh grade data at 33.4% more in blue light. My group compared to the seventh grade data had a difference of 6.4% of oxygen produced in three minutes. There was a discrepancy in 1st periods data because there was a 16.4% increase in red light. This is a discrepancy because all the other classes had an increase from red light to blue light except 1st period. In conclusion my hypothesis was correct that

Jack Robertson December 5, 2013 3 Science the rate of photosynthesis would be greater in blue but my percentage was off by 16.6%.

Analysis
There were several discrepancies throughout the data. One of the major discrepancies I discovered was that every period except for period 1 had an increase from red to blue light. This error in the data can change the whole 7th grade average. Period 2 had a 70% increase from blue to red light. This was the highest rate of photosynthesis. These to outliers could have been due to several factors. The discrepancies in the data could have been due to a number of different things. One of the first errors that came to my mind that a group could have made is they could have counted bubbles from the leaves. This would affect the data because they could have had a larger amount of bubbles making the data not reliable. Also the first groups could have gotten the most fresh elodea sprigs than the later classes witch could affect the rate of photosynthesis. There would be several changes I would make to this lab so it would have truly reliable data. The first change I would make to the lab is to have each elodea weigh the same amount. This could affect the rate of photosynthesis because if the plant is bigger it is sucking in more light causing it to photosynthesize quicker.