Plants and the Carbon Cycle

Hypothesis:

Plants reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Materials per student group:

2 large mayonnaise jars (large jars with a wide mouth lid)

soil

plants

CBL with carbon dioxide probe (or other carbon dioxide measuring device)

 

Procedure:

1. Place moist soil in both jars.
2. Put the plants in one jar (this is the experimental jar)
3. Measure the carbon dioxide in this jar and seal the lid of the jar.
4. In the second jar, measure the carbon dioxide and seal the lid of the jar (This is the control jar).
5. Record the carbon dioxide measurements in the space provided in ppm.

Experimental jar-  _________________ppm
Control jar-  _____________________ppm
6. Place jars in sunlight and let sit for three to five days.
7. After this time period,  record your observations of the two jars.

______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________
8.  Remove the lids of both jars and take another carbon dioxide measurement  in each jar.
9. Record your measurements in the space provided.

Experimental jar-  _____________ppm
Control jar -  _________________ppm
10. Calculate the difference in ppm for experimental and control jars.

Experimental jar ppm difference-  ________________  ppm
Control jar ppm difference-  ____________________  ppm
11. Combine class data and calculate the median for each jar.

Experimental jar median-  ________________  ppm
Control jar median -  ___________________   ppm

______________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________

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Follow up: On a separate page list one variable in this experiment that you could investigate in a follow up experiment. Describe how you could carry out this experiment.

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