| Explore | They are green because of chlorophyll and reflecting the color green. Plants are Abel to survive through the process of photosynthesis, which in turn allows us to breather because they produce oxygen. Plants need a light source, carbon dioxide, and water to perform photosynthesis. To live they must also gather nutrients in the ground and soil around them. How do plants reproduce? How do plants move or how are they able to be in another region through a natural process? |
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| Research Question | How light colors (wavelengths) effect the rate of photosynthesis. We looked at what factors effect the rate of photosynthesis and picked one that interested us. We know different light is a factor that plays into the growth/photosynthesis of a plant and we wanted to know how the rate would differ if we sued different colored lights. |
| Predictions | We know that the rate of photosynthesis for the wavelength of green will be super low because plants reflect green light instead of absorbing it (This is why we see them as green). We know they absorb colors like blue and yellow really well so wavelengths of those colors should be high in the rate of photosynthesis. |
| Experimental Design | Materials: - 100 ml of water ( About 1,500 ml of water because you have to change water each time you do experiment) - Baking soda - A light box - A cup that can fit in the light box and hold 100ml of water - 5 different colored florescent 9 watt light bulbs : standard white, blue, yellow, orange, and green - A timer (That can be put at 10min) - Syringe - A stirring utensil - A hole puncher - Spinach leaves (make sure in water while not in use) I would say get 3 decent sized leaves per light bulb. - Tin foil - A computer or pencil/paper to keep track of data Steps: For one experiment (15 experiments in total or more if you think you had a miss trial) Prepping: Cover light box in tin foil and design it in a way so you can insert the cup of solution you are using, check on it, and exchange the lightbulb. Step 1: Fill a cup with 100ml of water and mix in enough baking soda to make a .2 baking soda collusion. Step 2: Use the hole puncher to cut 10 leaves out and put the discs inside the syringe at the bottom( push the plunger down just enough to where there is a slight space between it and the discs) Step 3: Using the syringe with discs fill it about one third of the way by pulling in liquid from the .2 baking soda solution. (Tap it after to make sure the leaves are separated and floating) Step 4: Get the 10 min timer ready and set it to the side. Pour the liquid in the syringe with the leaves into the cup and put it under the light source in the light box. You may have to stir again to make sure the leaves are not sticking together. Step 5: Start the timer and check every 1 min for how many leaf discs are floating at the top. Record you data on paper, computer, or in a way that you can easily look at it and refer to it. Step 6: (Doing again)YOU SHOULD ALWAYS USE A NEW .2 BAKING SODA SOLUTION FOR EACH EXPERIMENT. - You should always perform 3 experiments per light bulb. You may want to repeat some because of a mistrial. - When changing out the light bulb make sure to use some sort of cloth or glove because the bulb will be hot. Variable we will test is light color (wavelength) Variable we will measure and observe is rate of photosynthesis We will record data on a line graph after we are do with all of our experiments |
| Conclusion | To Expand our results we could add more colored light bulbs to our experiment or/and we could also increase the amount of tests we perform, though this would take a longer time to do. |
| Investigation Theme | POS |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| School Name | South Doyle High School |
| Session | Spring 2018 |