Bicarbonate Concentration Effects on rate of Photosynthesis

By Ian Stukes, Henry Nichols and Kevin Lentz at Sandy Springs Friends School

Results: Time It Took For Spinach to Rise Via Concentration of Bicarbonate

Introduction

The research objective was to observe differing

concentrations of bicarbonate solution effects on
photosynthesis in spinach.

Results
We chose to measure time in seconds. In general,
our data was fairly consistent with an increase in
concentration leading to an increase of time. An
outlier was the control group because
photosynthesis didn't occur. Another outlier was
our 60% average, we feel however that this was
due more to a lack of proper testing.

Hypothesis
Conclusion
The higher the concentration of bicarbonate,
the faster spinach will reach the top.

Methods
We will have 3 sets of 5 different concentrations of
bicarbonate. We will have punched out small disks
of lettuce that will be deoxygenated in a syringe and
placed in a beaker of either 0%, 10%, 30%, 60% or
100%. for each concentration tested. the timer will
start once the lettuce has sunk to the bottom and
continue until they surface.

Spinach leaves in
artificial light

Spinach is
at the top
of a
syringe

Our group can conclude that the more

concentrated the sodium bicarbonate,
the longer it takes for it to rise. Our
hypothesis was rejected. For example at
100% it took 466 sec while at 10% It
was at 243 sec.
Future Directions
Some ways we could continue our research are
by testing if temperature is a factor in the time it
took for the spinach to rise to the top. We could
also attempt to try more tests at intermediate
levels as we had to cover a wide range of
concentrations.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Sandy Spring Friends
School for providing us with the materials that we need
to complete the experiment.