Week 3


Week 3 Blog Post


What question are we investigating?

The questions we investigated this week in lab were:

Where do plants get their food?

Where do plants get their energy?

What did we do in lab to investigate this question?

After taking a google form where we had to chose which person had the correct statement on where their plants get food, we had a very extensive class discussion. During the discussion we broke down what photosynthesis is, and the way animals get food vs. plants. We then took some plant algae and put them in a vile of water that was polluted with carbon dioxide. We tested photosynthesis by leaving one vile in the light so the process of photosynthesis could take place, and put the other in the dark. 

What did we figure out?

During the discussion we found out that plants get their food from sugar after breaking those sugars down through photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a process used by plants to convert light energy into chemical energy. The plants use cellular respiration or the formula Carbon dioxide + Water Glucose (sugar) + Oxygen CO2 + H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2. This formula is the chemical reaction that occurs when plants use oxygen and sugar to create carbon dioxide and water as waste products. When taking the vile out of light and dark, we saw the very prominent difference in the color of the water. The vile that was put in the sunlight was more blue, back to the color it was before it was polluted with carbon dioxide. While the other vile that was in the dark was still green, making it clear that the CO2 was still there. 




What are new or remaining question after the investigation? 

My questions after the lab are how long does photosynthesis take, and does it differ from plant to plant?

Comments

  1. Andrea Malek AshSeptember 17, 2021 at 7:15 AM

    Great questions at the end and thanks for driving our class discussion forward!

    One note - photosynthesis CREATES sugars, not breaks them down. Breaking sugars down to get energy is "respiration." Respiration is what we do to get energy from our food (aka sugars), AND what plants do to get energy from the sugars they create. http://fruitandnuteducation.ucdavis.edu/generaltopics/Tree_Growth_Structure/Photosynthesis_Respiration/

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