Wilson, Jarod

Period 1, Biology
11/20/2014

Photosynthesis Lab
Introduction
Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy to
chemical energy that can be stored and used at any time to fuel the organisms activities. This is
one of the ways that autotrophs get their energy.
The accepted equation for the process of photosynthesis in plants:
sunlight

6CO2 + 6H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2

Purpose
In this lab we will be testing the effect of differing light amounts on the production of
oxygen as a result of photosynthesis. This will also show us how the production of oxygen
differs when resources do not present themselves in substantial enough amounts, resources such
as light.

Materials

Elodia
Glass Vial
Water
Ruler
Light Source (i.e. Bulb, Flashlight, etc.)
Stop Watch (Optional)

Any other instruments to hold the vial and/or light source are recommended to get better and
easier results.

Method
1. Setup the Elodia inside of the vial, submerged in water.
2. Setup the light source 5 cm away from the vial.
3. Turn off all light sources and when ready turn on the light source setup in step two.
4. Observe the vial and count the number of bubbles coming from the Elodia for atleast one
minute.

Wilson, Jarod
Period 1, Biology
11/20/2014

Photosynthesis Lab
5. Record results, distance between the light source and vial as well as the number of bubbles.
6. Repeat steps one through five, except double the distance from the light source to the vial and
use the same Elodia and vial as before. Repeat up to two more times, so that the final recorded
distance is about 20 cm.

Data
Distance (cm)
5 cm
10 cm
20 cm

Number of oxygen bubbles

26
21
18

Oxygen bubble quality/size.

N/A
Smaller than before.
Smaller than before.

Data Analysis
As shown when the distance was doubled the amount of oxygen bubbles was reduced a
significant amount, though the reduction was not constant. Instead the reduction as distance
increased also reduced as it went through. This is because of a law in physics called the Inversesquare law. This states that when the distance between an object and a light source is doubled
from its original/previous amount, then amount of light is one-forth its original/previous amount.
As a result of this almost one-fourth as many oxygen bubbles were made. Any extra bubbles
were made as a result of stored energy from when the amount of light was greater. Even more so
to the law, the quality/size of the bubbles decreased along with this.

Conclusion
Through this we can see the effect of the amount of light, and can connect to the amount
of any other resource used in photosynthesis, to the production of oxygen, or any other product
of photosynthesis. We can also see how plants may try to produce at different rates based on the
amount of resources that it has, as shown when the amount of bubbles was still fairly high but
the quality/size was greatly reduces to compensate. We can conclude that when plants have
limited or lesser resources then they will try to produce at a faster rate but with less product to
allow them to have the same amount of fuel to function.