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Science fair help Im need help with photosynthesis Rate Topic: -----

#1 21 January 2012 - 12:14 AM lame9thgrader 


Lepton
Hello, i need help with my science project. me and my friend will take 2 sugar beets, one sugar beet will be exposed to more co2 than the other. then we will measure the amount of sugar (glucose) and then compare the two amounts. to do this one sugar beet will be inside a jar filled with co2 from a compressed can of co2. both sugar beets will be watered equally under the same amount of light and the same soil will be used. then after a few days we will extract the sugar out of the sugar beets and then we will compare the amount of sugar from both sugar beets.
what we are trying to find out is if a sugar beet exposed to more co2 will produce more sugar than the sugar beet alone.
according to the process of photosynthesis, a plant takes 6 co2 molecules, 6 h2o molecules, and sunlight to make glucose. using this information we came up with our hypothesis that if a sugar beet exposed to more available co2 the sugar beet will be able to produce more co2.

the only thing that i need to know is how long is the process of photosynthesis so i can know how long i have to observe each plant to get sugar.

*since this is an experiment im not looking to answers that's like "oh this wont work because..... (backup information)" because there wont be any point in my experiment and i will have to look for a new one .

please give me your thoughts, i will be really thankful

This post has been edited by lame9thgrader: 21 January 2012 - 12:17 AM

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#2 21 January 2012 - 06:22 AM DrRocket 


Primate

View Postlame9thgrader, on 21 January 2012 - 12:14 AM, said:

Hello, i need help with my science project. me and my friend will take 2 sugar beets, one sugar beet will be exposed to more co2 than the other. then we will measure the amount of sugar (glucose) and then compare the two amounts. to do this one sugar beet will be inside a jar filled with co2 from a compressed can of co2. both sugar beets will be watered equally under the same amount of light and the same soil will be used. then after a few days we will extract the sugar out of the sugar beets and then we will compare the amount of sugar from both sugar beets.
what we are trying to find out is if a sugar beet exposed to more co2 will produce more sugar than the sugar beet alone.
according to the process of photosynthesis, a plant takes 6 co2 molecules, 6 h2o molecules, and sunlight to make glucose. using this information we came up with our hypothesis that if a sugar beet exposed to more available co2 the sugar beet will be able to produce more co2.

the only thing that i need to know is how long is the process of photosynthesis so i can know how long i have to observe each plant to get sugar.

*since this is an experiment im not looking to answers that's like "oh this wont work because..... (backup information)" because there wont be any point in my experiment and i will have to look for a new one .

please give me your thoughts, i will be really thankful


If I understand your starting point, you are not making any assumptions abuot the specirfic mechanism for photosynthesis, even though you apparently do understand it and used that understanding a bit in formulating your experiment.

Assuming that my understanding of your starting point is correct, then it seems to me that you need more controls for your experiment. So, for instance it might be that the effect is not one of simply "more CO2 results in more sugar" but it might be that "less oxygen or less nitrogen results in more sugar". If this makes sense to you the you might want to to consider adding some controls to your experiment -- say try having some sugar beets exposed to a pure nitrogen atmosphere (no oxygen), a pure oxygen atmosphere (less nitrogen) and a near-vacuum (less everything).

With regard to the kinetics this Wiki article might help. There are several reactions involved, all fairly fast, but the mass-rate at which end products is produced will depend on the rate at which the necessary reactants are transpported to the reaction site, which is an entirely different matter.
http://en.wikipedia..../Photosynthesis

You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... -- Richard P. Feynman
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#3 21 January 2012 - 02:51 PM lame9thgrader 


Lepton
Thank you for your response.

This post has been edited by lame9thgrader: 21 January 2012 - 02:51 PM

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