Photosynthesis:
10.
Measuring the rate of photosynthesis
by timing movement of a bubbles of gas in a capillary tube - varying light
intensity, temperature and CO2 concentration
Doc Brown's Biology exam study revision notes
There are various sections to work through.
INDEX
of PHOTOSYNTHESIS notes
(10)
Measuring the rate of photosynthesis: experimental
method 2 - timing movement of a bubbles of gas in a capillary tube
You
can use this gas syringe system to measure the effects of changing temperature,
light intensity and carbon dioxide level (via a sodium hydrogencarbonate
solution).
At the end of method 2 the inverse square
low of light intensity is explained.
Method2.
-
Further thoughts
on the
experimental methods described in methods 1. and 2. above for determining the rate of photosynthesis
in Canadian pondweed experiment.
-
The 'set-up' probably the best
system I can devise sitting at home in front of the computer screen!
-
In method 2 the pondweed tube could
be enclosed in a large beaker of water that
acts as a simple thermostated bath to keep the temperature constant -
ideally a thermostated water bath.
-
The tube of pondweed is immersed in
NaHCO3 solution is subjected to a lamp emitting bright white
light at a specific distance from tube of pondweed.
-
You can again use sodium
hydrogencarbonate (NaHCO3) as source of carbon dioxide and vary its
concentration to
vary the carbon dioxide concentration.
-
-
(i) The oxygen bubbles are still channelled into a
capillary tube but the gases and liquids allowed to freely exit from the
capillary tube - no problem with liquid in the syringe which might
quite stiff anyway and difficult to measure an accurate volume.
-
(ii) A T junction in the tubing
allows the 'injection' of water into the gas stream to make bubbles
of gas visible.
-
You need to use the same quantity
and batch of pondweed (or other oxygenating aquatic plant).
-
You use the same volume of
water/sodium hydrogencarbonate solution.
-
What can you measure and vary?
-
Measuring the
rate of photosynthesis by measuring the rate of oxygen gas production in the gas syringe
is more accurate but requires more time to get a set of readings to plot
a graph.
-
Measuring the speed of the horizontal
movement of the gas bubbles is quite easy via the accurate linear scale and
stopwatch.
-
You can use quite a long uniform
capillary tube to increase the sensitivity and hence accuracy of the
experiment.
-
-
For each set of experimental conditions
get at least three reasonably consistent readings and compute an average for
the best accuracy.
-
The speed of bubbles in cm/s gives you a
relative measure of the rate of the overall reaction of photosynthesis to
produce oxygen.
-
With increasing concentration (of
NaHCO3) you should see an increase in the rate of oxygen bubbles,
but you must keep the temperature constant eg lab. temp. 20-25oC,
and the light intensity constant by keeping the lamp a fixed distance from
the flask. The light from the laboratory itself will contribute, but the
total light should be constant and you can use a light meter to ensure the
same light intensity.
-
To vary temperature you need to
immerse the boiling tube in water baths of different carefully controlled
and constant temperatures - ideally using a thermostated water bath.
-
You should be able to get enough results
eg 5o increments from 15oC to 50oC to show
maximum the maximum rate of photosynthesis expected to be around 35-40oC.
-
The concentration of NaHCO3
and the light intensity should be both kept constant.
-
Varying the light intensity is quite
difficult, you need to position a lamp at different measured distances away
from the pondweed tube.
-
You can calculate the relative
intensity using the inverse square law, see
light intensity section on this page.
-
BUT, for
accurate results you should take a light meter reading by the flask in the
direction of the lamp (see the discussion on the inverse square law further
down the page).
-
You must choose, and keep constant, both
the temperature and sodium hydrogencarbonate concentration of appropriate
values eg a 2% solution of NaHCO3 and 25oC.
-
Problems!
-
Although I think this is an
improvement on method 2, its still quite difficult to get
accurate results.
-
I think a light meter is essential
for accurate results - changing the lamp distance is relevant to
changing the light intensity, BUT, intensity is NOT a simple function of
distance.
-
You need to use the same sample of
pondweed, but is it always the same leaf area towards the light?
-
The experimental runs should not take
too long as the NaHCO3/CO2 concentration is
falling all the time.
-
Graphs of experimental data and their
interpretation
distance from lamp
d |
10 |
20 |
30 |
40 |
distance to the experiment
flask in
cm |
1 / d |
0.1 |
0.05 |
0.033 |
0.025 |
reciprocal of distance |
d2 |
100 |
400 |
900 |
1600 |
distance squared |
1 / d2 |
0.01 |
0.0025 |
0.00111 |
0.000625 |
reciprocal of distance squared |
relative
intensity
1 / d2 |
1.0 |
0.25 |
0.111 |
0.0625 |
arbitrary units calculated
by the inverse square law equation |
relative distance |
x1 |
x 2 |
x 3 |
x 4 |
distance from lamp to
experiment |
relative intensity
as a fraction |
1 |
1/4 |
1/9 |
1/16 |
decreasing with the inverse
square law |
|
|
not 1/2 |
not 1/3 |
not/1/4 |
this is what it would be if
intensity = 1 / d |
relative rate of photosynthesis
(see graphs) |
1.0 |
0.25 |
0.111 |
0.0625 |
assuming
rate of photosynthesis is proportional to light intensity |
Keywords, phrases and learning objectives for this part on
photosynthesis
Be able to describe and analyse the results of an
investigation experiment to measure rate of photosynthesis by timing
movement of a gas bubble of oxygen formed moving along a capillary
tube investigation method.
Be able describe the experimental method, apparatus
and observation data for timing the movement of a gas bubble of
oxygen formed moving along a capillary tube experiment of photosynthesis and
also describe how to get experiment results for different temperatures, varying
light intensities and changing carbonate concentrations (= varying
CO2 concentration)..
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