Conservation of Energy

Energy Released Based on Exposure to Different Colors of Light

Research Question and Hypothesis

How does being exposed to different colors of light change the rate of conservation of energy of a rose?

The roses exposed to violet light will conserve energy the fastest, and the roses exposed to red light will conserve energy the slowest.

Distribution of Work

● Biology students research and organize important information about the rose and its interaction with the environment.

● Chemistry students assist in calculating and organizing data.

● Physics students assist in calculating and organizing data, as well as putting it on the powerpoint.

● All students assemble and carry out the experiment.

Contribution of Each Discipline

● Facts about the rose and their biological tendencies are contributed by the biology discipline.

● The chemical reaction of the roses burning and the energy given off by the reaction was the contribution of the chemistry discipline.

● The roses’ absorption of the energy of different colored lights and the calculations to find this energy is the contribution from the physics discipline.

Photo Setup

Experiment in Action

Controls Exposed to Red

Exposed to Green Exposed to Violet

Controls

Exposed to Red

Exposed to Green

Exposed to Violet

Raw Data - Biological Facts About Roses

● Roses need an inch of water a week.● Roses need about 6 hours of sunlight a day.● Most plants, including roses, absorb red light

the best because their leaves are green.

Raw Data - Given Wavelengths of Light

● λ of visible light = 400-700 nm● λ of red light = 620-750 nm● λ of green light = 495-570 nm● λ of violet light = 380-450 nm

Calculated Data - Energy of Hues of Light

● Energy of visible light: 3.518e-19 Joules per photon● Energy of red light: 2.902e-19 Joules per photon● Energy of green light: 3.733e-19 Joules per photon● Energy of violet light: 4.789e-19 Joules per photon.

Calculated Data - Final Mass of Roses

Rose Mass (g)

Control #1 13.9

Control #2 12.4

Red #1 18.3

Red #2 13.5

Green #1 17.5

Green #2 18.3

Violet #1 15.8

Violet #2 12.7

Graphs

Expected Outcomes

● The roses exposed to the light with the highest energy, violet light would burn the most and give off the most energy.

● The roses exposed to the light with the lowest energy, red light, would burn the least.

● Energy throughout this process would be conserved.● We would be able to calculate the speed of burning,

along with the speed of conservation of energy.

Unexpected Outcomes

● We didn’t expect the roses exposed to red light to release more energy than the roses exposed to ordinary, visible light.

● We didn’t expect green light to hardly have an effect when drying out the roses.

● The results of the experiment would all look the same, and each rose would burn at an extremely similar rate.

How the Results Support Hypothesis

● The roses exposed to red light gave off the least amount of energy, and the roses exposed to the violet light gave off the most energy.

● The roses exposed to violet light dried out the most.● Throughout the experiment, energy was conserved.

How the Results Contradict Hypothesis

● The rate of conservation of energy could not be measured because the rate energy is being converted cannot be determined, it is not constant.

● The results didn’t vary to the degree we expected when we wrote our hypothesis.

Sources

Chandler, Bill. "Frequently Asked Questions about Roses." Union University, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015. <http://www.uu.edu/personal/bnettles/rofaq/rofaq-faq.html#FAQ_qa_sun>.

"How Do Different Color Filters Affect Plant Growth?" UCSB Science Line. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2015. <http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=3155>.

"What Wavelength Goes With a Color?" NASA, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015. <http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/Wavelengths_for_Colors.html>.