Photosynthesis is a process that plants must go through to survive. During the process of photosynthesis, plants must use energy to make sugars and many other molecules from carbon dioxide and water. In this experiment, we tested what effect turbidity would have on the photosynthesis process, if any, and how it would change carbon dioxide uptake. By making turbidity a factor in the photosynthesis process, we reasoned that it could potentially affect how photosynthesis is produced in plants. For photosynthesis to be as efficient as possible for plants, they need to be able to receive a decent amount of sunlight for the plant to be healthy, and turbidity makes the water cloudy, which could have an effect on the process of photosynthesis. In this experiment, we found results that could possibly support the fact that turbidity, in the form of pollution or water runoff, could manipulate the way plants photosynthesize.IntroductionTurbidity is a measure of the degree of water clarity (Michaud 1991). As the total suspended solids in the water increase, the cloudier it appears and the higher its turbidity will tend to be (1991). Many factors can contribute to turbidity, such as stormwater runoff, weather, industrial wastes and sewage (1991). Due to lack of light, turbidity can also slow down or even prevent a plant's photosynthesis, which can lead to its death due to reduced dissolved oxygen and increased acidity. Turbidity affects organisms that rely directly on light, such as aquatic plants like waterweed, because it limits their ability to successfully carry out photosynthesis (1991). Turbidity also affects organisms that rely primarily... middle of paper ... on photosynthesis, one in a normal setting and the other with a piece of tissue that mimicked what it might be like if there There were high levels of turbidity in the water caused by things such as industrial waste, water runoff, pollution and sewage. We found that the beaker with the cloth-covered elodea was more acidic because we had to put more sodium hydroxide in it to make it neutral. The fact that it was more acidic supported our hypothesis about how turbidity would affect the photosynthesis process. Since the water was more acidic, this meant that there was more respiration than photosynthesis, because plant respiration makes the water more acidic because respiration produces carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide mixtures in water creating carbonic acid and in this experiment the carbon dioxide came from someone blowing. bubbles in the water (Walsh 33).