Floating leaf lab
Get two plastic cups / team
One marked with CO2
One marked without CO2
Pour 3 cm of the correct liquid in each cup.
[the liquid has a small amount of soap so the leaves and water do not repel]
Punch out 20 circles of spinach leaves. Don’t include the veins!
Take the plunger out of a 2 syringes and place 10 circles in the syringe.
Replace the plunger and push down until it is near the leaves. Pull 5cc of
water out of the cup into one syringe and 5cc of CO2 water into the other
syringe.
Point the syringes up and tap the leaves to get them floating in the water.
Push the plunger up until there is no air in the syringes.
Cover the end of the syringe and pull the plunger out, creating a vacuum. Hold
the plunger until all the leaves sink, tap to make sure no leaves are stuck to
the sides. Repeat if necessary up to 3 times, only!
Pour the leaf solution into the correct cups
Put the leaves into the light and start timing.
Every minute count the number of floating leaves in each cup. Record your
data.