| Explore | Plants need water, light, and carbon dioxide in order to undergo photosynthesis. We have also learned that the amount of carbon dioxide that is present will affect the process of photosynthesis. The more of it there is, the faster the process will rapidly occur, and the less there is, the slower it will happen. A question that interests us is how the color of the plant affects the way a plant photosynthesizes. |
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| Research Question | How does the different types of water affect the rate/process of photosynthesis? This was asked based on the reactants that are needed for photosynthesis, which are water, carbon dioxide and light. We have already test the amount of carbon dioxide and light in class, so our next experiment is to discover how different types of water affect the rate of photosynthesis. |
| Predictions | Our prediction would consist of the different types of water to actually play a role in how fast a plant will photosynthesize. We believe that if there are different variables involved or not involved in water, it will possibly have some effect the rate photosynthesis will occur. |
| Experimental Design | We will use two cups, one with distilled water, another with tap water. We will add the same amount of baking soda to produce carbon dioxide. Some soap will be added in order to break the surface tension for our leaf disks. Afterwards, we will cut out 20 spinach disks and place 10 in each cup. We will record the time and amount of disks that float up as a result of the oxygen bubbles produced when the plants photosynthesize in order to determine if it affects the rate. |
| Conclusion | The tap water will have a better effect of photosynthesis on the leaf disks. Our hypothesis was very wrong. At the beginning our group thought that chemicals in the tap water would affect the process of photosynthesis poorly, but according to the data that's not what occurred. As a group we observed that our data shows tap water has a faster rate of photosynthesis than distilled, however our data wasn't very consistent and fortunately there could have been some human error. If our group were to test this experiment again we would make sure that both cups of water had the same light intensity to make sure no human error can eventuate. In conclusion, tap water, and the chemicals in it have a greater effect of photosynthesis. |
| Investigation Theme | POS |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| School Name | Fair Lawn high school |
| Session | Fall 2017 |