How? 1 Why? Putting photosynthesis to the test Applying tools to the question at hand Goals & Purpose • To test a common claim from textbooks • To build and understand tools you’re working with • • recall: otherwise, it’s simply not science. It’s magical mumbo-jumbo To generate meaningful data that allows drawing of conclusions. And to draw them 2 3 Theory 4 • Looking at a leaf, what would you hypothesize would be the most effective wavelengths for photosynthesis? • WHAT IS YOUR MECHANISM? 5 Making it so... • How could we use last week’s tools to address the question Assertion: Photosynthesis in (green plants) is more effective at the ends of the spectrum than in the middle Team efforts • Grounds 1 & 4: liquid permitting red light • Groups 2 & 5: liquid permitting green light • Groups 3 & 6: liquid permitting blue light • ALL: Make enough to share (yours + 2 others) • Final experiment in 20 ml, so... 6 Dance of the Buffers • Ca++ + PO4-- => precipitate • Thus, TWO 10x buffer components • Add either one LAST lest you lose CaPO4 as a solid 7 Consider • What is the mechanism by which we are ‘removing’ some wavelengths of light • • What are the implications for the volumes in your beakers? What will be the consequences if you fill the red beaker with disks and it sits waiting while you fill blue, then green? 8 9 Design Designer helper • • • • Plotulence: in Lab 11 Folder on desktops ‘New Table’ Enter data Use sliders to set concentration/dilution • What calculation is the program performing? 10 Constraints • • Let in as much light as possible* for your ‘region’ of the spectrum • Red: include both 630 & 660 • Blue: 350 & 430 Given the above, block as much as possible at other wavelengths 11 12 All’s fair... if you make it that way • Does it matter if amount green (and other wavelengths) available light of the ‘green tube’ is similar to amount blue (and other) available light of the ‘blue tube’ • What should we do about it? * Absorbance must be no greater than 0.2 at permitted wavelength 13 Execution 14 What’s the experiment look like? • What will you be comparing to what? • time, number, number per unit time? • If nothing floats, how will you know if your leaves were OK? • Will your comparison of tubes of different color be valid? Make it so • Groups 1 & 3 & 5 will exchange so everyone has a redallowing, green-allowing & blue-allowing tube • 2 & 4, & 6 will do the same • Each group shall write a lab report on their measurements & findings 15 16 Interpretation Measuring light... 17 • What does the area beneath your absorbance curve represent? • ...above the curve (and below our arbitrary ‘cap’ of 2)? • How could you approximate the total amount of light that your disks ‘saw’? Comparing curves • Generate smoothed curves based on your spec readings • Cut out ABOVE line; weigh for each* • What does the resulting number represent? • How should it be used? *Drawing parameters: Y-axis: set 4th major line from bottom as 2.00 absorbance units X-axis: each major line is 100nm, plot 300->700 nm 18 Represent! 19 • How should you take the differences in your graphs (the weights) into account? • Suppose you had • • red dye, graph-weight 3.0 g, and that floated in 5 minutes • blue dye, graph-weight 2.0 g, with flotation in 7’ How would you calculate the adjusted speed-of-flotation? This is a critical part of your experiment. Failure to explain & deliver this calculation = loss of points on write up Closing discussion 20 • Did we find what we expected to find? • Are there stones left unturned (unexamined assumptions in our experiment)? Homework a lab report in my dropbox featuring... Sound Logic & Presentation Complete sentences Correct spelling Elements in correct places (methods, results, discussion 21 22 Biology, the Dynamic Science, Vol. I Russell, Wolfe, Hertz, Starr