The Effect of The Concentration Percentage of a Bicarbonate Solution on the Average Rate of Photosynthesis (Et50) (Min) of Spinach Leaf Discs

School Name

Heathwood Hall

Grade Level

11th Grade

Presentation Topic

Botany

Presentation Type

Non-Mentored

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the concentration percentage of a bicarbonate solution affected the rate of photosynthesis in spinach leaf discs. This project was to understand how these concentrations affect plant growth and determine if this method of floating leaf discs would be able to measure the rate of photosynthesis based on the concentrated solutions. The hypothesis of this experiment was that the 1% concentrated solution would affect the rate of photosynthesis the most by increasing the rate of the process. Out of all of the concentration trials, the rate of photosynthesis increased with each increase in percent concentration. The percent was increased by .2% for each trial until the trials ranged from .2% to 1%. Each trial was set in front of a light source (lamp) and the number of leaf discs that floated to the top of each trial in a span of twenty minutes was written down and recorded. The data was then recorded in Google Sheets and the descriptive, as well as the inferential statistics, were found by running a descriptive test and an ANOVA test. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the number of leaf discs that had floated to the top based on the small intervals of concentrated solution change. Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected. Future research could be done by testing a broader range of percentages in the concentrated bicarbonate solution and also by increasing the number of cups per trial to possibly increase significance.

Start Date

3-25-2017 11:59 PM

Presentation Format

Written Only

Group Project

No

COinS
 
Mar 25th, 11:59 PM

The Effect of The Concentration Percentage of a Bicarbonate Solution on the Average Rate of Photosynthesis (Et50) (Min) of Spinach Leaf Discs

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the concentration percentage of a bicarbonate solution affected the rate of photosynthesis in spinach leaf discs. This project was to understand how these concentrations affect plant growth and determine if this method of floating leaf discs would be able to measure the rate of photosynthesis based on the concentrated solutions. The hypothesis of this experiment was that the 1% concentrated solution would affect the rate of photosynthesis the most by increasing the rate of the process. Out of all of the concentration trials, the rate of photosynthesis increased with each increase in percent concentration. The percent was increased by .2% for each trial until the trials ranged from .2% to 1%. Each trial was set in front of a light source (lamp) and the number of leaf discs that floated to the top of each trial in a span of twenty minutes was written down and recorded. The data was then recorded in Google Sheets and the descriptive, as well as the inferential statistics, were found by running a descriptive test and an ANOVA test. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the number of leaf discs that had floated to the top based on the small intervals of concentrated solution change. Therefore, the hypothesis was rejected. Future research could be done by testing a broader range of percentages in the concentrated bicarbonate solution and also by increasing the number of cups per trial to possibly increase significance.