Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration Abstract: Photosynthesis and cellular respiration correlate to each other from the products and reactants that involve both of the reactions. When looking at the chemical equation, the chemical equation for cellular respiration is the opposite of photosynthesis (5). Cellular respiration and photosynthesis are not only important for cells, but it also keeps CO2 levels stable on earth along with atmospheric O2 (5). With the final pH of 8.52 in the light experiment compared to the ending pH of 7.3 in the dark experiment, you can see that the data supports our hypothesis of the pH increasing more when light is involved with photosynthesis. As long as light is involved with photosynthesis, the correlation …show more content…
We gathered 2 empty cuvettes and labeled one as “light” and one as “dark” on the smooth part of the cuvette. We cut the end of a pipette off at a diagonal angle to create a scoop for the algae beads. We scooped 8 individual algae beads into the light cuvette and 8 beads into the dark cuvette and discarded the extra liquid in the cuvettes. We then put distilled water into the cuvettes to wash the algae beads and let the cuvettes sit for 5 minutes. We then removed the distilled water and added 1.5 mL of indicator to each cuvette. After the cuvettes were prepped, we found the initial pH of both cuvettes using pH Indicator Color Guide and put the cuvette labeled “light” 15-25 cm under the provided lab light and placed the cuvette labeled “dark” into an empty drawer by the light cuvettes. Every 5 minutes, we checked the pH of our algae beads with the pH Indicator Color Guide cards and continued to do so for 45 minutes. After we collected our data, we washed out our cuvettes and saved the algae …show more content…
Based on the graph in figure 2, it is visible that the process of the pH rising in the Scenedesmus Obliquus is when the algae is present in a light dependent area. Based on figure 2, the results show that the Scenedesmus Obliquus in a dark environment lowered the pH but not drastically. Using a study from Studocu, you can see that when the algae beads are put under a light, the pH will turn higher and there will be less CO2 in the algae beads (4). The study shows that as you begin to manipulate the main energy source that photosynthesis has, the results of photosynthesis will begin to differ. The amount of CO2 rises when darkening the environment that the Scenedesmus Obliquus are in. The errors that could’ve happened in this experiment are more of human error. When trying to decide what the pH of the solution was while in a light dependent environment and in a darkened environment, it was sometimes hard deciding what the pH specifically was which could throw off the averages of the data points. Another error that could’ve happened is the washing of the Scenedesmus Obliquus. When washing the algae, you had to make sure that you waited 5 minutes before putting the indicator in the cuvettes. Not washing the algae beads enough can affect the