Planting Science - Projects: Big Leaf Team
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Big Leaf Team

Project by group othsmikosspring2020

Explore Plants start as a seed and turn into a plant with roots, stem, and leaves. Plants are nutritious and some plants live for a long time. Plants are green (most plants). Plants perform photosynthesis and produce glucose to survive. Plants give off oxygen and also perform cellular respiration. How does a different type of light effect photosynthesis? How does the angle of a light effect photosynthesis? How does lead size effect photosynthesis?
Research Question How does the size of a leaf effect the amount of photosynthesis performed. This pertains to the real world because we want to if trees need more leaves or larger leaves to gain more photosynthesis.
Predictions 1) The larger disks photosynthesize more than the smaller disks. 2) The larger disks photosynthesize the same amount as the smaller disks. 3) The smaller disks photosynthesize more than the larger disks. We predict that the larger disks will perform more photosynthesis than the smaller leaf disks. We think this because: the more surface area that a leaf has, the more chlorophyll the plant will have to its use, which allows the plant to perform more photosynthesis.
Experimental Design Our group will create two different sized leaf disks by using two different sized hole punchers (24 total disks, 12 per size), fill two cups with three centimeters of water both with one teaspoon of baking soda, position two identical lamps perpendicular to the cup’s surface. We will de-oxygize the disks (via syringe vacuum) and place them in the water mixtures. We will test to see how long it takes to make the disks float. Controls: cup size, amount of baking soda in cups, light angle, type of leaf, number of leaves. Independent: disk size Dependent: time to do photosynthesis
Conclusion Larger leaves perform more photosynthesis than smaller leaves. Possible explanations for the results is: the larger the surface area of the leaves the more access the plant has to food because of the additional chlorophyll. Further experiments to expand on these results would include figuring out whether larger or smaller leaves are more efficient for dormancy.

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NSF_Logo.jpg This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #2010556 and #1502892. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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