PHOTOSYNTHESIS SUMMATIVE PROJECT

Amanda Morse Science 2 14/12/13

PROBLEM: 1. How does the color of light (blue, red) affect the rate of

photosynthesis in Elodea at a distance of 5cm from the plant?

HYPOTHEISIS: If the color of light is changed from red to blue light, then the rate of photosynthesis will be 50% higher under the red light. THEORY: Photosynthesis is a process that generates food for plants. It takes place in the leaves that contain the chloroplasts and the reactants needed are carbon dioxide (comes in through the stomata), water (through the roots) and sunlight. The chloroplasts absorb the sunlight, which is a mandatory component in photosynthesis. Photosynthesis needs to happen in all plants in order for them to survive. The rate of photosynthesis will be higher in the plant under the red light because the wavelengths are longer. The red light wavelengths are 650nm and the wavelengths of the blue light are 470nm. Even though red light only absorbs about 50% of light it also reflects about 50% so therefore since it is more equally balanced and the wavelengths are longer and of a higher frequency, so the rate of photosynthesis will go up. Blue light reflects about 10% and absorbs about 90% so since it only reflects about 10% and absorbs an exceedingly higher amount, photosynthesis wont occur as much as in the red light. Chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b may have a large impact on which plant will photosynthesize more. Chlorophyll a is specific form of chlorophyll used in oxygenic photosynthesis and it absorbs most energy from wavelengths of violet-blue and orange-red. Chlorophyll b is colored yellow and absorbs mostly blue light. Chlorophyll a will probably support photosynthesis under the red light, because it absorbs most of the wavelengths in the red light. Farmers have even started using pink-houses, which reflect pink light. So rather then bathing the plants in white light, which contains every color of light, they believe that if they beam light waves of blue and red that both are proven to have high rate of photosynthesis, than the process of photosynthesis will carry out much faster. I agree with the people who created pink-houses because they are smart to try something new.

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. Measure 5cm from the top of the test tube to the ring stand of the lamp. 8. Turn on lamp and wait 1 minute. 9. After 1 minute, begin counting small, medium and large bubbles for 3 minutes. Record data. 10. Repeat with red light but prepare a new piece of elodea. 11. Repeat for Trial 2 with the elodea used in the blue light experiment, and use the same elodea tested in the red light experiment. DATA/OBSERVATIONS:
Trial 1 ___grams
Color Blue

Oxygen produced in 3 minutes with blue and red light

Medium x 2 22 x 2=44 Large x 3 3 x 3=9 Total 91

Small x 1 44 x 1=44

Red

6 x 1=6

0 x 2=0

6 x 3=18

24

Notes: Trial 2 _____grams Oxygen produced in 3 minutes with blue and red light
Small x 1 Color Blue Red 2 x 1=2 3 x 1=3 Medium x 2 5 x 2=10 1 x 2=2 Large x 3 8 x 3=24 3 x 3=9 Total 36 14

AVERAGES

Trial 1 Trial 2 Total/2 Average

Blue 91 36 127/2 63.5

Red 24 14 38/2 19

Notes: We used the same piece of elodea for each trial for each red and blue light. We moved the test tube in order to be perfectly under the light 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 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 37.6%Decrease 23.3% Decrease 55.8% Decrease 25.8% Decrease 33.4% Decrease RED % Oxygen Decrease/Increase

1. 70-58.5=11.5 11.5/70=16 16 x 100= 1600 2. 63.5-19=44.5 44.5/63.5=70 70 x 100=7000 3. 39-24.3= 14.7 14.7/39=37 37 x 100= 3700 4. 112-85.8=26.2 26.2/112=23.3 23.3 x 100=23.3 6. 102-45=57 57/102=55.8 55.8 x 100=55.8 7. 68.5-50.8=17.7 17.7/68.5=25.8 25.8 x 100=25.8

Average. 73.9- 49.2=24.7 24.7/73.9=33.4 33.4 x 100= 33.4

Rate of Photosynthesis for Color of Light

Average Rate of Oxygen in 3 minutes 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 7th Grade Period 2 19 49.2 73.9 63.5 Red Blue

Conclusion: In this lab the problem that my group and I were investigating was how does the color of light affect the rate of photosynthesis in elodea at a distance of 5cm from the plant? I hypothesized that if we changed the color of light from red to blue, then the rate of photosynthesis will be 50% higher under the red light. My group got a 63.5% average rate of photosynthesis under the blue light and a 19% average rate of photosynthesis under the red light. All classes but period 1 had a decrease, where as period 1 had a 16% increase when I calculated the average increase or decrease. However, in class periods 2,3,4,6,7 there were decreases of, 70%, 37.6%, 23.3%, 55.8%, and 25.8%. This data shows that my hypothesis was definitely incorrect. After calculating the data I can conclude that the rate of photosynthesis was by far greater under the blue light. Therefore my hypothesis was incorrect 100% of the time. Analysis: Looking at our data from this lab, I noticed many discrepancies. One example was that period 1 was the only class that had a higher rate of photosynthesis under the red light. This seemed very unreliable because there could have been many things that went wrong in this experiment seeing that it was the only class that had these ending results. All of the other classes had a decrease but period one with a 16.4% increase. Another example of a discrepancy that I noticed was that the highest averages came from period 4, of 112 under the blue light and 85.8 under the

red light. One final thing that I noticed while perusing the data was that period 2 had quiet a large range between the number of bubbles coming from the elodea under the blue light, and the elodea under the red light. There was an average of approximately 63.5 bubbles under the red light and an average of 19 bubbles under the blue light. The difference was about 45. If you remove the outlier, period 4s data, than it would get me closer to being correct on my hypothesis. The total average for red would be 16.6% if I removed period 4s data and the total average for blue light would be 14.82%. These results differed in many different ways. One example of why the results could have differed is because the bubble counter could have mistakenly counted bubbles coming from the leaves and the stem. This could have been a major reason why the data was inconsistent. Another thing that went wrong was that the people who were counting the bubbles could have had a different perspective on what a small, medium and large bubble was. This could have most definitely affected the outcomes of the data because it matters about the actual size because each bubble equaled a different amount. There is evidence that the results were inconsistent because every periods data was completely different. The changes that I would make to this procedure would be to have someone watching the counter to make sure that they only count the bubbles coming from the stem. If we made this change, then we would see increasingly more reliable results. Running the procedure 3 times would also help increase the reliability, we would get more data to compare. The more data we have the easier it is to see if its valid or not. One last change that I would make to the procedure would be to leave the lights on for 4 minutes not just three. Studies show that it takes an average light about 1 minute to reach full brightness. Therefore plants need as much sunlight as they can get for as much time as possible in order to generate a larger rate of photosynthesis. BIBLIOGRAPHY Coolidge-Stolz M.D., Elizabeth, et al. Focus On Life Science. Boston, Mass: Prentice Hall, 2008. Washington State Department of Ecology. American Waterweed- A Common Native Plant. February 24, 2003. November 2013. <http://www.ecy.wa.gov/Programs/wq/plants/native/elodea.html> Young, Paul. The Botany Coloring Book. Cambridge, New York: Harper and Row, 1982. "Indoor Vertical Farm 'Pinkhouses' Grow Plants Faster With Less Energy | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building." Inhabitat Sustainable Design Innovation Eco Architecture Green Building Indoor Vertical Farm Pinkhouses Grow Plants Faster With Less Energy Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.

http://inhabitat.com/indoor-vertical-farm-pinkhouses-grow-plants-faster-withless-energy/ Science Mission Directorate. "Visible Light" Mission:Science. 2010. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 05 Dec. 2013 http://missionscience.nasa.gov /ems/09_visiblelight.html