(Photosynthesis Lab)

RESEARCH QUESTION: What effect does CO2 concentration (1%, 3%, 5%) have on the rate of
photosynthesis (number of oxygen bubbles produced by an underwater plant (bpm: bubbles per
minute)) and how temperature, time and light intensity are included?

Hypothesis: the higher the CO2 concentration the more bubbles will be produced from the plant at a faster
rate.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Photosynthesis is the process by which a plant converts carbon dioxide (a gas received from the air)
and water into glucose, a sugar. Chlorophylls are responsible for a
plant's green color and it also absorbs light, which is generally
sunlight(National Geographic Society). Plants absorb carbon dioxide
(CO2) and water (H2O) from the air and soil during photosynthesis.
Water is oxidized in the plant cell, which means it loses electrons, but
carbon dioxide is reduced, which means it receives electrons. Water is
converted to oxygen, while carbon dioxide is converted to glucose. The
plant then releases the oxygen into the atmosphere while storing
energy in the glucose molecules(National Geographic Society).
Photosynthesis occurs quickly when a large amount of oxygen is
released. Photosynthesis takes a long time if there isn't much oxygen
given off. The amount of captured sunlight energy and the amount of
carbon \dioxide accessible impacts the rate of photosynthesis. Adding baking soda to water has the
purpose of maximizing the amount of carbon dioxide in the water. When the carbon dioxide increases
so does the rate of photosynthesis until a certain point when the graph levels off as you can see in the
graph above(“Factors Affecting Photosynthesis - Photosynthesis - OCR Gateway - GCSE Biology
(Single Science) Revision - OCR Gateway - BBC Bitesize”). The purpose of the experiment is to see
how the amount of baking soda( concentration of C02) affects the rate of photosynthesis(number of
bubbles that come out of the plant) in a minute.

VARIABLES:
 Variable (include units for each one and
uncertainties)
Independent - Different CO2 concentration
Dependent - the number of oxygen
bubbles produced by an underwater
plant ( bpm: per min)
Controlled -
1. Same amount of time measured for
counting the bubbles(1 min)
2. Same temperature of the water
(25degrees)
3. Same amount of light intensity (5cm
away from the plant)
4. Same Elodea plant used in each trial
5. Same amount of water (50 ml)
MATERIALS:
● Lists materials that YOU used and include the Uncertainty.
● Scale
How will this be changed/measured or
controlled
The CO2 concentration is measured with a
scale. We wanted to start with one percent
of concentration which means we would
add the baking soda onto the scale till it
reached 0.1( which is 1 percent of 100ml of
water).
The number of bubbles were measured by
counting. We recorded a 1 minute video for
each trial and after we counted how many
bubbles were in that video to see how many
were produced in one minute. (We would
slow down the video when we counted to
make sure we counted them all.)
1) Bubbles produced in the same
amount of time are measured by a
stopwatch and a video that recorded
for one minute so that afterwards we
could count to see how many there
were.
2) The temperature of water was
measured with a thermometer. We
used this same water for every
experiment.
3) The light intensity was measured
with a ruler to see how far away the
plant was from the light
4) The Elodea plant will stay the same
throughout the experiment
5) The amount of water will stay the
same throughout the experiment and
was measured using a measuring
cylinder (50ml)
 ● Test tube
● Thermometer
● Baking soda
● Elodea plant
● Scissors
● Water
● Weighing boat
● Measuring cylinder
● Scooping spoon
● Flashlight(huge light)
● Ruler
● Phone(to record)
● Stopwatch(time)
● Flask

PROCEDURE:
● Create a safe lab environment and use appropriate safety lab equipment inorder to prevent
potential dangerous situations.
● Place your weighing boat on the scale and press zero (so that your weighing boat wont be
added)
● Slowly add your baking soda onto the weighing boat
using a scooping spoon. Measure the baking soda to Time
about 0.1g on the scale(which would be 1%)
1:0 r
● After you will get your measuring cylinder and add 0
water into it till it reached 100ml Bubblmi Test tube
● Then you will then pour the water into a beaker es n Li
● Use a thermometer to measure the temperature (the comin g
temperature will be the same throughout the g out h
experiment) of t
● After you will add the 0.1g of baking soda(CO2
concentration) into the beaker with the 100ml(you will plant
have 1 percent of concentration in the beaker) Plant
Recording
● Mix the baking soda with the water until it is fully
dissolved
plant(counting bubbles)
● Pour the mixture into the measuring cylinder again to
50ml
● After you will get your Elodea plant
● Using your scissors cut the plant (at about 45 degree angle)on the bottom
● Place the plant with your cut at the top in your test tube(this way the bottom will be at the top)
● Push the plant all the way down till it touches the bottom of the test tube.
● After that you will add 50ml of the mixture from your measuring cylinder. (the water will be
covering the plant)
● Place the test tube with the plant and the picture of 1%CO2 concentration 5 cm away from the
light.
● You will measure the distance of the light using a ruler
● After that you will wait till you see any bubbles come out of the plant (It can sometimes take a
while)
● Once a bubble is produced, grab your phone and stopwatch and record.
● Once the stopwatch has reached a minute stop the video.
 ● Pour the water out of the test tube and repeat the procedure 2 more times using 3% and 5% of
CO2 concentration. After collecting the data you will have finished one trial
● Repeat this again 5 more times for 5 trials (you will have 5 trials and 15 data points)
● At the end clean up and put everything back the way it started.

RAW DATA COLLECTION:

The effect of CO2 concentration(%) on the rate of photosynthesis in 1 minute(bpm)

CO2 Rate of photosynthesis in 1 minute(bpm) (±0.01s) 1 bubble
concentration(%)
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5

1% 11 45 57 60 69
3% 139 158 162 174 168
5% 227 238 243 237 245

DATA PROCESSING:
The effect of CO2 concentration(%) on the average rate of photosynthesis in 1 minute(bpm), rate of reaction and
standard deviation.
Rate of
photosynthesis
in 1 minute(bpm)
CO2 (±0.01s) 1
concentration(%) bubble Standard Rate of reaction standard deviation of the rate
deviation(±0.01grams) (average/60s) ±0.05 s of reaction ±0.05 s
1.00 48.40 22.60 0.80 0.38
2.00 160.20 13.30 2.67 0.22
3.00 238.00 7.00 3.97 0.12

Name of calculation Formula Sample calculation

Average rate of photosynthesis Add up all the numbers and Ex average of 1%:
divide by the number of numbers 11+45+57+60+69/5=48.4
there are

Standard deviation =STDEV.S(E3:I3) =22.6

Rate of reaction Average rate of Ex rate of reaction for 1%:

photosynthesis(in 1 minute) 48.4 / 60 = 0.80
divided by time (60sec)
 Standard deviation for the rate of =STDEV.S(M12:Q12) =0.38
reaction

In the graph above you can see In the graph you can see that the higher the CO2 concentration the higher the
standard deviations. This signifies that the more percentage of CO2 concentration you add the more
unreliable your data is going to be. The r^2 is 0.989 which shows that the graph has a really strong positive
correlation. On the graph you can see that as the carbon dioxide concentration increases so does the rate of
photosynthesis. If I had collected more data you would see that at one point the graph will level off and come
to a plataue . The line would stay the same, it would not increase or decrease. Since CO2 is one of the
reactants in photosynthesis, having more increases the rate of photosynthesis, but only up to a certain point.
As the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, so does the rate of photosynthesis, since there is
more of it to go around. Of course, there's a limit to how much carbon dioxide you can add until the plant
can't do photosynthesis much quicker. The rate of photosynthesis will grow as carbon dioxide content rises
until it is no longer the limiting factor in the reaction. Overall, my hypothesis is that the higher the CO2
concentration the more bubbles will be produced from the plant at a faster rate.

EVALUATION:
● Strengths - Describe what worked well in the experimental or procedural design. (1)
 Describe the strength of the experimental or Impact on Results/Data (how did it improve/support
procedural design. reliability/precision/accuracy

My partner and I were very efficient and used our This helped because we got done pretty fast and we
time well. were able to go back and see if we made any
mistakes and reduce it.

During the experiment we had different roles that
we did so that we were in charge of specific jobs so
we didn't get confused.
This helped us move a lot faster with our
experiment and let us both do equal amounts of
work. However, on some experiments we could
have gone a bit fast which could have affected our
data and made it a bit more unreliable.

● Weaknesses - Table format is good for structural communication. (1)

Describe the Impact on Results/Data Relevant improvement to these
limitation/error/weakness of the limitations/error/weaknesses with
experimental or procedural specific detail.
design.

On our first data point we started
the timer before we saw any
bubbles, so it took a while for the
first bubble to form from the plant
which is why that data point is
alot smaller than the others.
This caused the data point to be a Next time I should wait till I see a
lot smaller than the rest, since the bubble come from the plant and
first half of the video had no then start recording so that I have
bubbles in it. no missed time.

We only used three different
concentration of carbon dioxide
This showed that the more I will take more data this way so I
concentration of carbon dioxide can be more efficient and have
you use the faster the rate of more data supporting my claim.
photosynthesis is. However, there
wasn't enough data to show that
my data would level off on my
graph(stay the same).

We took a video of the plants and
decided to count afterwards.
However, the bubbles were
coming to fast and I could have
easily miscounted since it wasnt
that clear in the video
This means that some of my data
points are a bit off since it was
difficult to count.
Next time I will make sure to
have a more clear video and to
have the option to actually slow
down the video so that you can
count it without missing any
bubbles.

Extension to the investigation: What could you further investigated - give independent & dependent
ranges.

WORK CITED - references & Bibliography needs to be included.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Must be in MLA8 style - structure below.
 “Factors Affecting Photosynthesis - Photosynthesis - OCR Gateway - GCSE Biology (Single

Science) Revision - OCR Gateway - BBC Bitesize.” BBC Bitesize, 2022,

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zx8vw6f/revision/2#:~:text=occur%20in%20nature.-,Carbon

%20dioxide%20concentration,of%20photosynthesis%20will%20therefore%20increase..

Accessed 7 Feb. 2022.

National Geographic Society. “Chlorophyll.” National Geographic Society, 13 Sept. 2019,

www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/chlorophyll/#:~:text=Chlorophyll’s%20job%20in

%20a%20plant,glucose%2C%20a%20type%20of%20sugar.. Accessed 7 Feb. 2022.

---. “Photosynthesis.” National Geographic Society, 24 Oct. 2019,

www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/photosynthesis/#:~:text=Photosynthesis%20is

%20the%20process%20by,in%20the%20form%20of%20sugar.. Accessed 7 Feb. 2022.

Last name, First name. "Article Title." Website Title. Publisher of Website, Day Month Year article was
published. Web. Day-Month-Year article was accessed. <URL>.