There is a huge range of plants that can photosynthesise, whether it be microscopic bacteria or extremely large trees. In every ecosystem, there are always active producers that photosynthesise.
AIM
The aim of this experiment will be to test the rate of photosynthesis using Gardenia Augusta Magnifica in a warmer environment against a cooler environment.
HYPOTHESIS
The rate of photosynthesis in a warmer environment will be faster than the rate of photosynthesis in a cooler environment.
VARIABLES
Dependant:
The rate of photosynthesis
Independent:
The location of the exposure to heat/light
Controlled:
The water level in every test
The amount of Gardenia Augusta Magnifica in each beaker
MATERIALS
- 6 x 1000 millilitre beakers
- 6 funnels
- 6 test tubes
- Marker
- 1 Timer
- 12 leaves from a Gardenia Augusta Magnifica plant
- 6 x 400 millilitres of water
- Heat lamp
METHOD
- Place three beakers in front of a heat lamp
- Place three other beakers away from any contact of the heat lamp or the sun
- Fill each beaker with 400 millilitres of water
- Place two leaves from a Gardenia Augusta Magnifica plant into each of the six beakers
- Put one test tube over the narrow end of each funnel
- Put each funnel over the plant and make sure that the plant is completely under the funnel
- Set up the timer so that it is ready to start as soon as the heat lamp is turned on
- Turn on the heat lamp
- Every twelve minutes, for an hour, measure the water level through each of the funnels/test tubes
- Graph/table your results when completed
GRAPHS
Throughout these tables and graphs, it is obvious that no results of anything were found. At each end of the time limits, I thoroughly checked every beaker to see if any changes were present but they were inadequate. There is little reasoning behind these results which will be explained a little more in the next section.
One thing that did occur in this assessment was the amount of bubbles that rapidly appeared in the funnel. This appeared to be oxygen trying to escape as it stuck to the walls of the funnel. There were more bubbles appearing by the minute, and they were also appearing a lot faster when exposed to heat than the ones in a normal temperature environment. Another was that the water seemed to be evaporating when it was exposed to the heat lamp. This could be the link to the bubbles when the water was evaporating.
There were many things that could have been improved throughout this investigation that could possibly have gotten better results:
- A longer testing time could have given it more of a chance to produce better results.
- The choice of plant could have possibly been an issue as it may not have been a water plant so it would not have the same response to a water plant such as Elodea which was unavailable.
- While the experiment was a group experiment and this report is individual, other group members failed to have much of an input in the planning as they were either away or late to class.
In conclusion, the hypothesis suggested for this experiment has failed due to the errors listed above. This is evident from the lack of results appearing in the graphs and tables.