How does the color of light affect the rate of photosynthesis (floating spinach leafs) data processing help needed :)

[Hasta Manana]

Hi,

I did this photosynthesis lab where I investigated how does the color of light, i.e. the wavelength, affect the rate of photosynthesis. I used spinach leaf disks and I infiltrated them with sodium bicarbonate solution so that they sank. As they photosynthesized, oxygen bubbles were formed, and the leaf disks finally floated. So I have this raw data of time in minutes and the number of leaf disks floating in each of the five beakers that received different colors of light (blue, red, yellow, green, clear). How can I process this data and show some relationships?

Thanks in advance.

Edited November 20, 2010 by Hasta Manana

[Dzeb]

Since you did not measure the rate of photosynthesis, your data is pretty straighforward. If you put wavelength on x axis and the time taken for leaves to rise, you should get a curve similar to this: http://grow.ars-informatica.ca/images/photosynthesis.jpg

[Thengel336]

I'm thinking on doing that experiment too, but I have a problem. How do I get the different lights?¿ Where can you get colored bulbs?

[Sandwich]

When we did this, we used coloured film (thin translucent plastic, basically) and stuck it over the front of the lamp with sellotape :]