Abstract

Photosynthesis is the process in which green plants use sunlight to synthesise larger
organic molecules from carbon dioxide and water. Organisms that make food molecules from
simple raw materials are called autotrophs. Since the carbon dioxide is one of the raw materials
that are needed for photosynthesis process, therefore the experiment aims to find out the affect of
concentration carbon dioxide towards the rate of photosynthesis. The hypothesis of this
experiment is when the concentration of carbon dioxide increases, the rate of photosynthesis
increases with the condition that there is no other limiting factors. In this experiment, 10 small
discs of leafs are placed into 7 beakers containing about 20ml of distilled water, and 20ml of
different concentrations of sodium bicarbonate which are 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, and
3.0% respectively. All of the beakers are positioned on the OHP and OHP is turned on. The time
needed for each disc to rise from the bottom to the surface of the solutions is recorded (in
seconds) and the average time is calculated. Then, the rate of photosynthesis, which is the
reciprocal of the average time, is calculated. All the data obtained are recorded in a table and a
graph of rate of photosynthesis against the concentration of sodium bicarbonate solution
(concentration of carbon dioxide) is drawn. The results obtained shows that the rate of
photosynthesis increases as the concentration of sodium bicarbonate solution higher. Thus, the
higher the concentration of sodium bicarbonate solution is, the higher the rate of photosynthesis.

Introduction

Photosynthesis is the name of the process occurring in green plants in which light energy
is converted to the chemical energy. In photosynthesis, water and carbon dioxide is converted to
glucose and oxygen in the presence of sunlight and chlorophyll. The glucose will then be stored
in the plants in the form of carbohydrates. The photosynthesis occurs in autotroph cells, more
accurately, it is in chlorophyll which is one of the organelles in an autotroph cell. It is due to
green colour of the chlorophyll that causes a plant to be in green. However, there are other types
of chlorophyll that are not in green colour such as rhodophyll (red) and chrysophyll (gold) where
photosynthesis can also occur. The photosynthesis process can be expressed by the following
equation.
light
carbon dioxide + water glucose + oxygen
chlorophyll
 light
6CO2 +6H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2
chlorophyll
Photosynthesis can be divided into two stages. The first one is the light reaction (Hill
reaction) and dark reaction (Calvin Cycle). In the light reactions, light is absorbed by
chlorophyll, water is split and oxygen is given off. In the dark reaction, carbon dioxide is
combined with the split water molecules to make energy-rich compounds. As a result, glucose is
produced. The light reactions happen in the thylakoids of the chloroplasts where the chlorophyll
can be found. The dark reactions occur in the stroma.

There are several factors that will affect the rate of photosynthesis which is including:
wavelength of light, temperature, light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration and water
availability. A factor that limits the rate of a process such as photosynthesis is called limiting
factor. Basically, when a factor is in excess, the rate of photosynthesis will also continuously
increase before it becomes constant. This is due to the presence of those limiting factors. Hence,
the experiment aims to investigate the effect of concentration of carbon dioxide towards rate of
photosynthesis.

Hypothesis

Concentration of carbon dioxide will affect the rate of photosynthesis

Variables

Independent variable: Concentration of carbon dioxide

Dependent variable: Rate of photosynthesis

Constant variables: Light intensity, temperature of sodium bicarbonate and distilled water,

volume of sodium bicarbonate and distilled water, surface area of leaf discs,

type of leaves used

Materials required

Fresh green leaves Overhead projector (OHP)

Cork borer or punch hole Sieve

Buchner flask and Vacuum pump 50mL measuring cylinder

7 x 25 mL beakers 100 mL beaker

Stop watch Distilled water

Forceps

0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0% sodium bicarbonate solution

Method

1. 10 small (5-10 mm) leaf discs are cut using the cork borer or punch hole and these are
transferred immediately to a 100mL beaker containing distilled water.
2. Next, the discs are transferred to the Buchner flask which is approximately half full with
distilled water. A rubber stopper is placed into the flask and the pump is operated for
about 5 minutes to remove the air from the discs. Bubbles should appear in the water if
the pump is working correctly. The rubber stopper is removed and the water is turned off.
3. The water containing the discs is poured through the sieve into a 100 mL beaker and the
beaker is wrapped with aluminium foil
4. 10 discs are then transferred into a beaker containing 20 mL of 0.5% sodium bicarbonate
solution on the overhead projector (OHP).
5. The step 4 is repeated for 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0% sodium bicarbonate solution
and distilled water.
 6. The OHP is turned on and the stopwatch is started immediately. The time in seconds is
recorded for each disc of each beaker to rise. Any discs that do not fit the pattern of the
others in the beaker for the time taken to rise are taken note.
7. The average time taken in seconds for the discs to rise in each beaker is worked out. The
reciprocal of the average time is calculated and then converted to scientific notation to
estimate the rate of photosynthesis. A table is designed and prepared to record the data.
8. A graph of rate of photosynthesis against the concentration of carbon dioxide is plotted.

Results

Time for each leaf disc to rise (s)

Concentratio Rate of

n of Average photosynt
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 hesis
NaHCO3 Time (s)
(%) (1/s)

0.0 - - - - - - - - - - - -

0.5 1847 1908 1923 2215 2558 2581 2734 - - - 2252.29 0.000444

1.0 1319 1964 2001 2104 2109 2159 2207 2259 2398 2483 2100.30 0.000476

1.5 1305 2086 2086 2220 2491 2612 - - - - 2133.33 0.000469

2.0 1128 1550 2073 2116 2167 2293 2407 - - - 1962.00 0.000510

2.5 1215 2016 2265 2793 - - - - - - 2049.75 0.000488

3.0 1035 1897 2100 2499 2550 - - - - - 2016.20 0.000496

Graph

Please refer to the graph drawn on the attached graph paper

Pattern of results
Discussion

1. In this experiment, each leaf is disc shaped to ensure that each of them have the same
surface area. The reason is surface area of the leaves will influence the rate of
photosynthesis. Besides, with the same surface area, the amount of light received by
each leaf is the constant which means that light intensity will not be affecting the
accuracy of the results too. Therefore, concentration of carbon dioxide remains as the
only independent variable in this experiment.

2. The objective of using an OHP is to maintain the constant intensity of light compared to
sunlight that may be shaded during certain occurrences such as raining and cloudy day.

3. Aluminium foils is used to wrap the beaker containing the leaf discs before the
experiment starts so that the leaf discs are not exposed to any source of light before the
experiment starts.

4. Carbon dioxide can be produced through the ionization of sodium bicarbonate in water
to form Na+ and carbonate ions HCO3- .

NaHCO3 Na+ + HCO3-

5. Next, HCO3- ion will react with more water to produce carbonic acid, H2CO3.

HCO3- + H2O H2CO3 + OH-

6. Finally, H2CO3 will dissociate in water to produce water and carbon dioxide.
 H2CO3 H2O + CO2

7. The CO2 dissolved in the solution will be used by the process of photosynthesis.

8. As the concentration of the sodium bicarbonate increases, the concentration of the

carbon dioxide around the leaf discs will also increase. Carbon dioxide will diffuse
across the plant cells from high concentration to low concentration of carbon dioxide
following the concentration gradient through passive transport. This means that if the
concentration of carbon dioxide in the surrounding is higher, then more carbon dioxide
will diffuse into the leaf discs. Hence, more carbon dioxide is available for
photosynthesis. As a result, the rate of photosynthesis increases, which is the reciprocal
of the time needed for the leaf discs to rise to the surface. The leaf discs are able to rise
to the surface because of the accumulation of the oxygen gas produced through
photosynthesis between the spongy mesophyll cells. Therefore, the time taken for the
leaf discs to rise can be used as an estimation of the rate of photosynthesis.
9. In this experiment, the time taken for the leaf discs to rise onto surface of the 0.5%
sodium bicarbonate solution is higher than it does in 3.0%. The concentration of carbon
dioxide in 3.0% sodium bicarbonate solution is than it does in 0.5% sodium bicarbonate
solution. This means that, the amount carbon dioxide in 3.0% sodium bicarbonate
solution, that available as the raw of photosynthesis, per unit time is higher than it does
in 0.5% sodium bicarbonate solution. This causes the accumulation of oxygen in the
3.0% sodium bicarbonate solution is faster than it does in 0.5% sodium bicarbonate
solution. Thus, the leaf discs in 3.0% sodium bicarbonate solution will take a shorter
time to rise onto the surface of solution. Thus, the rate of photosynthesis of the leaf discs
in 3.0% sodium bicarbonate solution is higher than in 0.5% sodium bicarbonate solution.
10. In each beaker, although the concentration of sodium bicarbonate solution is the same,
the 10 leaf discs rise onto surface at different time because several factors. The reason is
these leaf discs are taken from part of leaves in different. Therefore, the thicknesses of
the leaf discs are vary from each other. Due to this factor, the rate of photosynthesis in
thicker leaf discs is lower than is does in thinner leaf discs. It is because the surface area
per volume ratio of the thick leaf discs is lower than the thin leaf discs. It takes a long
time for oxygen to accumulate in these thick leaf discs and causes them to rise slower
 than thin leaf discs. Moreover, the thick leaf discs weigh heavier than thin leaf discs.
This causes more oxygen is needed to accumulate in the thicker leaf discs so that they
can rise onto the surface of solution. Thus, the time taken for the thicker leaf discs in a
same concentration sodium bicarbonate solution to rise is longer.

11. Some leaf discs that rise will then fall back to the bottom because the oxygen produced
in photosynthesis is used up for respiration process. Therefore, there is not enough
oxygen to keep the leaf discs floating on the surface.
12. The strengths of the experiment are:
a) The surface area of the leaf discs is constant as they are punched into circles. This enable
each of them to carry out photosynthesis with even rates as the surface area factor that
might influence photosynthesis is kept invariable.
b) Experiment is done in the Biology lab with constant temperature and pressure.
c) The use of OHP as the light source can maintain the intensity of light and the colour of
light during the experiment.
13. The weaknesses of the experiment are:
a) Some leaf discs are too thin causing them to rise too abruptly, As a result, the time
taken for them to rise cannot be taken and it is recorded as zeroes.
b) Some leaf discs stay sunken and did not rise for the whole duration of the experiment.
This might be due to the extra thickness of these leaf discs compared others.
Consequently, the time taken for these leaf discs to rise is unable to be recorded.
c) Besides, those leaf discs might obtained from an unhealthy plant such as containing less
chlorophyll that causes photosynthesis unable to take place.
14. There are some errors that occur in the experiment. The first error is the systematic error
which is given below.
a) The concentration of sodium bicarbonate solution may be higher or lower than the
required concentration.
b) Besides that, the OHP might not be functioning properly.
15. The next error is the random error. They are:
a) Photosynthesis may already occur when the leaf discs are transferred into the
beakers that contain sodium bicarbonate solution. This is because they are exposed
 to the light from surrounding area. Thus, the time taken for the rise of leaf discs will
be shorter.
b) The stopwatch is used to record the time in this experiment may also cause random
error as there may be delay in starting the stopwatch or when reading the time.
16. As for the improvements that can be done to improve the results of the experiments,
firstly, the light in laboratory should be switched off during the experiment to avoid the
light from altering the balanced light intensity that should be provided by the OHP only.
Not only that, properly calibrated apparatus should be used to prepare the standard
solution of sodium bicarbonate. Next, the experiment should be repeated for several
times to decrease the random errors. The leaves that are used in the experiment should
also be from one well-developed and healthy plant

Conclusion

The aim of this experiment is met. The concentration of carbon dioxide will affect the rate of
photosynthesis. When the concentration carbon dioxide is higher, the rate of photosynthesis will
also be higher.