Name: Jackson Beach Date: 3/1/2024

Student Exploration: Plants and Snails

Vocabulary: aerobic respiration, bromothymol blue (BTB), carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle,

indicator, interdependence, photosynthesis

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. What important gas do we take in when we breathe?

Oxygen.

2. Why don’t we run out of the important gases that we need to stay alive?

Because of plants conducting photosynthesis.

Gizmo Warm-up
In the Plants and Snails Gizmo, each of the test tubes
contains water and a small amount of bromothymol blue
(BTB). BTB is a chemical indicator. An indicator changes
color when the chemicals in the water change.

1. With the lights set to on, drag a snail into one test tube
and a plant into another. Press Play ( ). After 24
hours, what is the color of each tube?

The tube with the snail turns yellow, and the tube with
the plant turns blue.

2. Select Show oxygen and CO2 values. Place the O2/CO2 probe in each tube. The probe
shows the levels of two gases, oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), in the tubes. We call
these amounts the gas levels.

A. When the water turns blue, which gas is most common? Oxygen.

B. When the water turns yellow, which gas is most common? Carbon Dioxide.

C. What does it tell you when the water is green? The amount of oxygen and
carbon dioxide is even.
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity A:
 Click Reset ( ).
Gases in and
 Clear all of the test tubes.
gases out
 Turn on Show oxygen and CO2 values.

Question: What gases do plants and animals take in and what do they give off?

1. Collect data: Use the Gizmo to learn what gases plants and animals take in and give off. Try
it in both light and dark. Record your results below. If you do more than five experiments,
write your extra results in your notebook or on separate sheets of paper.

What is in the tube Lights: on/off Results

The plant gives off more oxygen than the snail
One Snail, One Plant. On
takes in.
The snails release more carbon dioxide than the
Two Snails. Off
air that they took in.
The snails took in more oxygen than the plant
Three Snails, One
On could provide and gave off more carbon than
Plant.
the plant could take in.
One Snail, Three The plants took in all of the carbon dioxide that
On
Plants. the snail produce and released more oxygen.
The snails released more carbon than the plant
Four Snails, Four
Off produced oxygen, The light caused the plants
Plants.
oxygen production to decline.

2. Analyze: Study your data on gases given off by plants.

A. What gas do plants give off in the light? Oxygen

B. How about in the dark? The plants could not give off any oxygen.

3. Analyze: Study your data on gases given off by animals.

A. What gas do animals give off in the light? Carbon Dioxide.

B. How about in the dark? Carbon Dioxide.

C. How do these results compare to your plant results? The animals produced carbon
dioxide regardless to whether or not there was light.

4. Infer: Describe the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle by completing the sentences below:

Animals breathe in OXYGEN and breathe out CARBON DIOXIDE.

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In sunlight, plants take in CARBON DIOXIDE and release OXYGEN.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:  Click Reset.
 Clear all of the test tubes.
Interdependence  Turn the light switch to on.
 Check Show oxygen and CO2 values.

Question: How do plants and animals depend on each other?

1. Observe: Put one sprig of Elodea and one snail in a test tube with the lights on. Click Play.

A. Does the color of the water in the tube change? No.

B. What happens to the O2 and CO2 levels? Stays the same.

2. Predict: Without using the Gizmo, predict what you think will happen to the gas levels in
each case listed below. (Leave the Actual result column blank for now.)

Tube Prediction Actual result

2 snails, 2 sprigs,
Stays the same. Stays the same.
lights on
1 snail, 2 sprigs, Oxygen levels are higher than Oxygen levels are higher than
lights on carbon dioxide levels. carbon dioxide levels.
1 snail, 2 sprigs, Carbon dioxide levels are higher Carbon Dioxide levels are
lights off than oxygen levels. higher than oxygen levels.

3. Run Gizmo: Now run the Gizmo to test your predictions. Record your findings in the table.

4. Generalize: Describe how plants and animals each contribute to the survival of the other.
(This type of cooperative relationship is called interdependence.)

Plants provide oxygen for the animals, and the animals provide carbon dioxide for the plants
so that they can produce more oxygen.

5. Challenge: Simulate a 24-hour day (12 hours of light, 12 hours of dark). How many snails
and plants do you need to keep a stable environment? Explain any discoveries you make.

I found that the best environment would most likely be one snail and two plants.

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 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity C:  Click Reset.
The carbon-oxygen  Clear all of the test tubes.
balance  Turn the light switch to on.
 Check Show oxygen and CO2 values.

Question: How are the amounts of oxygen and carbon dioxide related to each other?

1. Observe: Put two Elodea sprigs into a test tube. Put the O2/CO2 probe into the tube with the
Elodea. Click Play. As the Gizmo runs, Pause ( ) it a few times.

A. How do the oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels change over time?

The sprigs use up all of the carbon dioxide and produce 6 oxygen.

B. What is always true about the total amount of O2 and CO2 in the test tube?

It is always 12.

C. What happens when the CO2 reaches zero?

The oxygen is no longer produced.

2. Revise and repeat: Click Reset and run the experiment again, this time with the lights off.

A. How do the gas levels change? O2 it decreases by 2.8 CO2 it increases by 2.8

B. What is the total of O2 and CO2? 12.

3. Revise and repeat: Click Reset. Remove the plants. Repeat the experiment with two snails.

A. How do the gas levels change? O2 it decreases by 4.2 CO2 it increases by 4.2

B. What is the total of O2 and CO2? 12.

4. Challenge: In the process of photosynthesis, plants use carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O),
and light energy to produce a sugar (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2). In the process of aerobic
respiration, animals and plants release energy from sugar and oxygen and produce carbon
dioxide and water. The chemical equations that describe these reactions look like this:

6CO2 + 6H2O + light  C6H12O6 + 6O2 C6H12O6 + 6O2  6CO2 + 6H2O + energy

How do these equations explain why the total amount of O2 and CO2 remains the same?

Because the plants take in the carbon dioxide and produce the same amount of carbon.

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