How Temperature Affects Cellular Respiration in Pea Seeds

1. Casey Cannon, George Nasr, Liam Powers, Jason Sciamanna How Temperature Affects Cellular Respiration in Pea Seeds

2. Jason, Liam, Casey and George

3. Research Question • How does Temperature (Refrigerator/5⁰C, Room/19⁰C, Incubator/37⁰C, Incubator/45⁰C) for 10 minutes affect the concentration of Carbon Dioxide [CO2] produced?

4. SO WHAT??? • Life on Earth requires a very specific temperature to survive. If mankind ever hopes to find extraterrestrial life, we must look for planets and moons with temperatures similar to that of Earth. • We are exploring what temperatures can sustain life’s metabolic processes at a reasonable rate.

5. IDV and DV • Independent Variable: The ambient temperature (⁰C) that the pea seeds are exposed to for 15 minutes • Dependent Variable: The concentration of Carbon Dioxide [CO2] in parts per million

6. Controlled Variables

7. Materials • Electronic Scale (± 0.01 g) • Explorer GLX • CO2 sensor • Plastic Bottle • Green Split Peas • Tap Water • 3 Beakers • 3 Weigh Boats • 1Thermometer • Stop watch

8. Method • Measure out 10 g of peas for each trial on the 3 weight boats. • Measure out 20 mL of tap water for each beaker. • Make sure to keep track of all times with the stop watch • Take the temperature of the room, the refrigerator, and the incubator at both of its temperatures. • For each trial, the 10g of peas will be suspended in the 20mL of water and left in its respective environment for 15 minutes. • Start trial one for fridge temperature: put the peas into one beaker and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.

9. Measuring Pea Seeds

10. Method (cont.) • After the 15 minutes put the seeds into the plastic bottle and gently put the CO2 censor over the opening and collect data with the Explorer GLX for 10 minutes. Make sure to let the censor adjust for 30 seconds before starting the data collection. • Repeat this procedure for all trials until completion then upload results to a computer to record. • Repeat all steps for the other levels of idependent variables.

11. Results (Fridge - 5 ⁰C)

12. Results (Room Temperature - 19 ⁰C)

13. Results (Incubator – 37 ⁰C)

14. Results (Incubator – 45 ⁰C)

15. Final Results

16. Conclusion • The goal of this project was to find the relationship between temperature and rate of respiration in green split peas. • The rate of change of concentration of CO2 per gram was • 0.079921 ppm/sec/gram for 5 ⁰C • 0.091704 ppm/sec/gram for 19 ⁰C • 0.121357 ppm/sec/gram 37 ⁰C • 0.151128 ppm/sec/gram 45 ⁰C

17. Conclusion (cont.) • Limitations and errors • We could not test the concentration of CO2 while the trials were in there respective environments. (It was not safe to place CO2 sensor in the incubator or fridge) • 15 minutes was not enough time to change the temperature

18. Conclusion (cont.) • Improvements • Use a styrofoam cup to insulate the peas • Pre-heat/pre-cool water for 20 minutes before soaking peas in the water for 15 minutes • Ideas for further research • Test higher temperature levels (50⁰C, 60 ⁰C, and 70 ⁰C) to find where the CO2 production stabilizes and dies out (due to denaturation of proteins) • Test different species of peas/beans

19. Works Cited No references necessary for this experiment