| Explore | We know that plants transform the light energy into glucose and oxygen. We know they are living organisms. We also know that plants need energy in order to make all their final products. |
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| Research Question | Does different color light affect the rate at which leaf disks rise to the surface of water? |
| Predictions | No, we do not think the color of light will affect the rate at which leaf disks rise to the surface because all light affects photosynthesis. |
| Experimental Design | We will put leaf disks in different cups of water : one cup under red, green, blue and one cup under normal white light as our control. Then, we will time the rate at which leaf disks rise to the surface. Actual Design: We had three different cups, all filled with distilled water and a few drops of a baking soda solution to add carbon dioxide. After placing an equal number of leaves into each cup after taking all the O2 away, we placed one cup under a normal light, one cup under a blue light, and one cup under an orange light. We measured how many leaves were floating after each minute. We tested how many leaves would float under each different light in order to see which light affected photosynthesis more. The variables kept constant was the solution of the cup, the amount of water in each cup, the number of leaf disks, the distance from the light to the cup, and the amount of time each cup was under the light. We recorded our data by observing the cup every 60 seconds ( 1 minute). After each minute, we recorded the number of leaves floating and not floating for each light. |
| Conclusion | Our results showed that blue light and the white light had the optimal rate of photosynthesis, compared an orange light. From this, we can conclude that blue and the white light affected photosynthesis because their wavelengths were more compact and shorter, whereas the orange wavelengths were longer and more spread out. Due to the wavelengths of blue and control, heat was accumulated faster than the orange. This produced an optimal temperature for the leaf disks to go through photosynthesis and produce food and oxygen. From this experiment we learned that the rate of photosynthesis is higher with quicker wavelengths because more heat is given off for the leaves. Future experiments could be the testing of different temperatures with leaf disks. We could test how a cold temperature, a room temperature, and a hot temperature affect the rate of photosynthesis. We would see our results the same way: the number of leaf disks floating (meaning they produced oxygen=photosynthesis). |
| Investigation Theme | POS |
| Grade Level | High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12) |
| School Name | St Joseph's Academy |
| Session | Fall 2017 |