Photosynthesis Lab
Purpose: What is the effect of the intensity and wavelength of light on photosynthesis.
Hypothesis: Neither of the experimental leaves will fare very well; the black leaves won't produce a lot of starch due to being covered and prevented from getting light, while the red leaves will only be getting blue light, the red light being reflected by the red cellophane. The control leaves with produce the most starch.
Materials:
Procedure: 1. Make a hypothesis
2. Cover leaves with black paper and red cellophane
3. After 1 day, cut off experimental and control leaves, put into test tubes
4. Extract chlorohpyll with hot water and Ethanol
5. Rinse in water, put into petrie dishes
6. Cover leaves with iodine
7. After 1 minute, place on paper towel and rate on 1-5 scale
Data:
Hypothesis: Neither of the experimental leaves will fare very well; the black leaves won't produce a lot of starch due to being covered and prevented from getting light, while the red leaves will only be getting blue light, the red light being reflected by the red cellophane. The control leaves with produce the most starch.
Materials:
- Black paper
- Cellophane (red)
- Petrie dishes
- Pipets
- Iodine
- Scissors
- Sharpie
- 2 Plants: 1 green leaf 1 red leaf
- Test tubes
- Paper towels
- Spatula
Procedure: 1. Make a hypothesis
2. Cover leaves with black paper and red cellophane
3. After 1 day, cut off experimental and control leaves, put into test tubes
4. Extract chlorohpyll with hot water and Ethanol
5. Rinse in water, put into petrie dishes
6. Cover leaves with iodine
7. After 1 minute, place on paper towel and rate on 1-5 scale
Data:
Data Analysis: The actual data surprised us, the control leaves actually had the least amount of starch when we tested them. garnering the same rating as the black paper leaves. There might have been some experimental error, since we don't know how much starch was in the leaves initially. Also, there might have been a mix up after we took the leaves out of the ethanol, we had some...er...label mixups. Ideally, the control leaf should have had the most starch, followed by the red leaves, and then the black. The coleus leaves should have had the green leaves making more starch.
Reflection: I thought that this lab was a bit boring, a lot of it was just sitting there, watching a leaf turn a specific color. In terms of collaboration my group was fine, it would be hard to mess up this lab, it being so straightforward. If I were to improve this experiment, I would have measured the starch before we performed the experiment, so that we could have recorded the change in the starch. Also, a more efficient way of keeping track of the leaves.
Reflection: I thought that this lab was a bit boring, a lot of it was just sitting there, watching a leaf turn a specific color. In terms of collaboration my group was fine, it would be hard to mess up this lab, it being so straightforward. If I were to improve this experiment, I would have measured the starch before we performed the experiment, so that we could have recorded the change in the starch. Also, a more efficient way of keeping track of the leaves.