Ayana Patel – Southwest Arkansas Regional Science Fair Junior Level Winner Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, AR

Ayana Patel, Magnolia Middle School, Magnolia, AR

Mentor: Ryland Ochs

Category: Plant Sciences

Project Title: Relative thermal conductive and dissipative properties of commonly available soy products to distilled water

Abstract:
My science fair experiment was, “Which Leaf Releases the Most CO2 in Two Hours?” I did this project because I thought it would be very interesting to actually see the oxygen when it is released. This project helped me learn more about photosynthesis, and how plants release oxygen. I tested my scientific question by putting leaves in water for two hours, and then counted how many bubbles were on each leaf. The number of bubbles on the top of each leaf would tell me how much oxygen it released, so the leaf that had the most bubbles released the most oxygen. The materials for my experiment were a camera, leaves, glass bowls, water, sunlight, rocks, and magnifying glass. My hypothesis for this experiment was that, if the Fringe flower is outside, in a bowl of water for two hours, then it will be the leaf to produce the most oxygen. I thought this, because according to research, the leaves with the smoothest and lightest texture, release the most oxygen since it can freely move through it. The first procedure for this experiment, was to go outside and get four different types of leaves (that are a similar size) and get four rocks of the same size. Then, I got four glass bowls that were of a similar size and put a different leaf in each bowl. Next, I placed a rock on every leaf in the bowl and took all of the bowls outside into the sunlight. You should be able to go inside and keep them in the sunlight for two hours. Lastly, you have to go through on every leaf and count how many bubbles are on it (using a magnifying glass). Then record your data and take pictures. The independent variable in this experiment is the type of leaf placed in the bowl of water; the dependent variable is the number of bubbles on each leaf. Lastly, the constant in this experiment is the time that you leave the leaves in the bowl of water. An observation that I noticed was that right when you put the leaf in the water, it starts to form bubbles. My results were that the Chinese Holly released 7 bubbles, the Multiflora Rose released 18, the Alpen Rose released 22 bubbles, and the Fringe Flower released 34 bubbles. My results show that the Fringe Flower released the most oxygen. My hypothesis was proven to be correct. If I were to repeat this experiment, I would only use soft textured leaves, since they are the leaves that release the most oxygen. There was a big difference in the number of bubbles in some of the leaves. In conclusion, I now know that every leaf releases a lot of oxygen, and if this was in only two hours, then they probably release a lot in a day!