Respiration 8.

01

Experiment 8. Changes in mass during germination

(a) You are provided with about 100 soaked wheat grains. Take ten of them, place them in a test-tube with a little water and, using a test-tube holder, boil them over a small unsen flame for half a minute. !dd cold water to the tube to cool it down, pour off most of the water and cover the seeds with dilute sodium h"pochlorite solution for about ten minutes. #eanwhile, cop" the table below into "our notebook and continue with instruction $b%. (b) &elect ten more grains, weigh them, record their mass $wet mass% and place them in an open container labelled with the letter !, the date and "our initials. 'lace this container in an oven at (0 )*, or on a radiator, or simpl" leave it open in the laborator" $air dr"ing%. (c) 'lace the remaining soaked grains in a suitable container with a lid and mark it with the date and "our initials. (d) 'our off the h"pochlorite from the boiled seeds and place them in a container labelled +control, and add the date and "our initials. *lose the container. (e) The germinating seeds are now left for eight da"s or more, taking samples, dr"ing and weighing them at two-da" intervals as follows $-a" 0 is the da" the e.periment was started%/ DAY 2 $i% &elect ten germinating seedlings, weigh them, record their $fresh% mass in "our table. 'lace them in an open container labelled with the letter , the date and "our initials. 'lace this container in the oven, or on a radiator, or leave it in the laborator" to air-dr" the seedlings as before. $ii% 0f the seeds in ! were in the oven or on a radiator, weigh them and record their $dr"% mass in "our table. 0f the seeds in ! are being air-dried, do not weigh them till -a" 1. $iii% *heck that the germinating seeds are not dr"ing out. !dd water if necessar". DAY 4 $i% Repeat the operations described for -a" 2 placing the ten freshl" selected and weighed seedlings in a container labelled *. $ii% 3eigh the dried seedlings in if the" were oven- or radiator-dried. 4therwise weigh the dried seeds in !. $iii% Remove the lid from the remaining growing seedlings, leave them in the light and check each da" that their roots are moist. $iv% 0f "ou are air-dr"ing the seedlings, remove the lid from the ,control, container and leave it open till -a" 8. DAY 6 $i% *ontinue the operations as before selecting and weighing ten more seedlings $-%. $ii% 0f "ou are using an oven or a radiator, remove the lid from the ,control, container and place it in the oven or on the radiator. $iii% 3eigh the dried seedlings in * $or if air-dried%. DAY 8 $i% &elect ten more seedlings, weigh them and place them in container 5. $ii% 3eigh the dried seedlings in - $or * if air-dried% and also the control seeds. DAY 1 3eigh the dried seedlings in 5 $or - if air-dried%. DA Y 12 3eigh the dried seedlings in 5 $if air-dried%.
Control Fresh mass Dry mass A (Day 0) B (Day 2) C (Day 3) D (Day 6) E (Day 8)

'lot a graph of the fresh and dr" masses against time and discuss the possible reasons for the changes in fresh and dr" mass.