Planting Science - Projects: Herb Your Enthusiasm
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Herb Your Enthusiasm

Project by group sjalodesfall2018


Info

Explore With this research topic, one experiment tested starch in plants because plants make food during photosynthesis and the glucose not used is stored as starch in the tissues of the plant. This experiment can determine whether or not photosynthesis occurred by measuring carbohydrate production. By...
Research Question We want to study glucose levels in parsley leaves. We will be using iodine solution to find out where the glucose is stored in the leaf (stored as starch). We came up with this question with the help of Josh, our mentor, by combining our two possible ideas. We will be studying how the iodine...
Predictions If parsley plants are under blue, white, and green light, the plants will demonstrate the most starch (because more photosynthesis = more glucose) under blue, then white, then green and there will be little to no starch in the leaves in the darkness under the foil. This will be evidenced by color...
Experimental Design Materials: • Safety goggles • Hot plates • Hot water bath • Gloves • Beakers • Thermometer • Aprons • 70% Isopropyl Alcohol • Water • 3 Parsley Plants • Aluminum Foil • Tweezers • Iodine • White light bulb • Blue light bulb • Green light bulb • Lamps...
Conclusion Data and Results: Monday, 11/6/18 (72 hours after starting photosynthesis): Different Wavelengths of Lights Effects on Percentage of Leaves Showing Starch Presence Type of light: White w/o foil: White w/ foil: Blue w/o foil: Blue w/ foil: Green w/o foil: Green w/ foil: Presence of Starch...
About this Project

These four students were persistent in trying to collect evidence for all reactants and products of photosynthesis. They felt like the leaf disk activity did a great job of showing that CO2, light and water are needed and that oxygen is produced. They wanted to concentrate on glucose as a...

Updates

Get to know your team’s scientist mentor, who will encourage and guide you through the scientific process of discovery. The more you share your ideas and research info, the more your mentor can help. You may also hear from a scientist mentor liaison who will be helping all the teams in your class.
PlantingScience Staff
updated the project info
PlantingScience Staff
has been updated by administrator
PlantingScience Staff
said
Farewell and Best Wishes
As this research project is now in the final stages of wrapping-up, we wish to thank everyone who participated in this inquiry; the students, mentors, teachers and others behind the scenes. We appreciate all of your efforts and contributions to this online learning community.

Scientific exploration is a process of discovery that can be fun! There are many unanswered questions about plants just waiting for new scientists to consider, investigate, and share.

Please come back and visit the PlantingScience Project Gallery anytime to view this project in the future. You can search the Gallery by key word, team name, topic, or school name.

Good bye for now.
Warm regards,
The PlantingScience team
PlantingScience Staff
said
Looks like you are in the final stages of your projects.
It’s great to see that teams from your school are wrapping up and posting conclusions. Enjoy the final stages of your project, and feel free to post any final comments or questions you have for your mentors.
Emily
said

Hey Josh,

So we already did what you recommended but we re-uploaded it because some of the numbers were off in the results. The number of leaves total, the number of leaves that show starch, and the percentage are all in the data table since you really can't see the data table or the graph in the project info, I recommend looking at the file upload

thanks!

    Josh Kraft
    said

    Hey everyone! I took a look at your report and was impressed. I have uploaded a version (ends with "JK comments) that has some suggestions. You do not need to make the changes if you do not want to, but take a look and see if you like any of them. You've done a great job with your experiment, hopefully you were able to develop an appreciation for plant sciences from your project. 

Josh Kraft
uploaded Herb your Enthusiasm final report JK comments.docx in project files
Rachel
updated Herb your Enthusiasm final report.docx in project files
Emily
said

Well the way I did it before was wrong so I am pretty sure this is how I am supposed to do it. Unfortunately, the data table and graph didn't really show up right / at all but I kept the file upload so you can look at that to see the table and graph. Again, thank you so much for your help!!

    Josh Kraft
    said

    Hey Emily,

    You guys did a great job!  I would recommend when reporting your results you not only give the percent of leaves with starch but also give the counts. For example, if 20% had starch I would report it as 20% (1/5 leaves). This way if you have sample sizes that aren't equal (maybe 5 in one group, 12 in the next group, then 6, etc...) it is easier to see the differences between percents that are similar in value. If that doesn't make sense let me know and I can re-explain it.

     

    Thanks!

    Josh

Emily
updated the project info
Emily
said

Hey Josh, just uploaded the final report! I hope I did it right, I wasn't really sure how to upload so that is why it is so late but thank you so much for your help! We all think the experiment turned out great!

Emily
uploaded Herb your Enthusiasm final report.docx in project files
Josh Kraft
said

Hey everyone!

Just a reminder that when you go to upload documents to make sure that you are not including any last names on your reports.

 

Thanks!

Josh 

Marissa
said

Hello! Today in class we took notes in class on the photosynthesis, discussing chlorophyll as a photosynthetic pigment, light reactions, absorption of light, the Calvin cycle, etc. At the end of the day we finally got to run our full experiment! We boiled the leaves for two minutes in water that was roughly 80 degrees celsius. After two minutes in water, they were transferred into 70% isopropyl alcohol, which they remained in for one minute. They were removed, place on a paper towel, and we dropped the iodine solution onto them. It took a couple minutes, but slowly the leaves placed in the light began to turn purple, while the covered leaves stayed green. Our hypothesis was correct! Yay! We believed that starch would be present in the uncovered leaves, as they were doing photosynthesis, while the covered leaves were not. This was true, but we predicted the plants under blue lights to have the most glucose (because plants take in mostly BIV waves), but the white light prevailed. The plants under the white light, uncovered, showed the most starch of all our plants. Blue came in second, while green essentially had no starch. We are very excited that we finally got our experiment to work with only a few bumps in the road. We couldn't have done it without your help, so thank you so much! Also, I will add some pictures in case you would like to see how it turned out. 

    Josh Kraft
    said

    Hey Marissa, 

    I am glad to hear the project worked! Does anyone have any ideas why white light would produce more starch than blue light? To answer this we need to remember that both red AND blue light drive photosynthesis the best, in fact red light is "easier" for plants to use. 

    Given what you learned about photosynthesis, why do you think the plants under the green light made so little starch? 

    If you have any questions please let me know!

    Thanks,

    Josh 

Maggie
updated the project info
Maggie
updated the project info
Maggie
said

Hi JOSH! I am sorry I called you John; there was a technological mishap (aka my brain wasn't working). Our experiment went really well. Thank you for all your help. We found that white light produced the most starch instead of blue light, and we were able to collect data and make conclusions. Now, we are finishing up our formal lab report.

Marissa
uploaded IMG_0254 1.jpg in project files
Marissa
uploaded IMG_0252.jpg and 4 more files in project files
Emily
said

Hi Josh! In class on Friday, we boiled some parsley leaves from plants that were in the sun and stained them with iodine and we could see the starch!! Yay! We also set up our experiment - there was a bit of confusion but I think it is all figured out now. We now have only three plants total, one under each light (green, blue, and white) and there are some leaves on each plant covered with foil. We will collect data on Monday. I know someone took pictures of the setup, but I am not sure who; we can post them on Monday.

    Josh Kraft
    said

    Hey Emily! I am glad to hear you were able to see the starch! This is a relatively simple procedure but I think I have done it in 4 different classes during college. What differences are you expecting from the different lights? Any hypothesis on which plant will produce the most or least starch? Looking forward to hearing more about your results, keep up the great work!

    -Josh 

Emily
updated the project info
Emily
updated the project info
Maggie
said

John - we found that crushing the leaves and using iodine did not produce any starch and thus no results. We are going to try to boil. Would it be okay to use isopropyl alcohol instead of ethyl alcohol? We also are using green and blue lights instead of red and yellow. 

    Josh Kraft
    said

    Hey Maggie, Isopropyl should work, essentially we are trying to get rid of the chlorophyll in the leaf. Here is an article that explains the process and includes good pictures https://sciencing.com/remove-chlorophyll-leaves-5789711.html . I am not surprised that crushing the leaves didn't work, you probably ended up breaking the starch storage compartments and lost them when you soaked in alcohol. The steps will be 1)Killing the leaf (stops more photosynthesis) with boiling water 2)Removing chlorophyll  and color with alcohol 3) Staining with iodine to see the presence of starch. I think it should be fine to use whole plants instead of covering leaves with foil, just make sure you account for the time needed to look at your plants. If you have anymore questions please let me know!

    -Josh 

Maggie
uploaded IMG-4319.JPG, IMG-4318.JPG in project files
Maggie
said

Hi! Instead of boiling, we are crushing the parsley's leaves after they have been under the light (each in a different light) doing photosynthesis or lack thereof. We are not using foil but putting one in the complete dark in addition to the white, yellow, red, and black lights. 

 

Today, we tested the iodine to see if it will show starch presence or not on the parsley leaves. We also set up our experiment with the lights, and the plants will undergo photosynthesis. We will test for starch and make observations after 24 hours (Friday) and after 96 hours (Monday).

Marissa
updated the project info

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