Lesson 3.3
How can plants solve the problem of CO2 building up in the atmosphere?
Lesson Type:
Investigate
Time:
135 min
The main role of this lesson is to support understanding the roles that photosynthesis and plant cellular respiration play in the global carbon cycle. Upon completing this lesson, students will be motivated to further explore how carbon enters soil and how that carbon is stored in soil or emitted to the air.
What We Do:
Investigate changing concentrations of CO2 and O2 in the presence of plants.
Make sense of the Keeling Curve and learn about seasonal shifts in carbon uptake by plants worldwide.
Learn about the relationship between plants and soil in terms of carbon flow.
What We Figure Out:
Plants take in and give off CO2 all day and night. O2 is a product of photosynthesis which takes place during the day in the presence of light.
Plants take in more CO2 than they give off, which reduces CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
There are natural seasonal cycles of increasing and decreasing CO2 concentrations throughout the year.
Plants store carbon as biomass, but a majority of the carbon they take in ends up in the soil.
Lab Preparation
Watch the following videos for lab instructions and how to prepare Bromothymol Blue (BTB) solution (Version A of the lab).
