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?

Carbon dioxide

2. Why don’t we run out of the important gases that we need to stay alive?
Because as times goes on the atmosphere and plants produce more of the gases we need to
stay alive

Gizmo Warm-up:
In the Plants and Snails GizmoTM, 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 one that the plant is in is blue, and the one the snail is
in is yellow.

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?

O2

b. When the water turns yellow, which gas is most common?

CO2

c. What does it tell you when the water is green?

The amounts of gas in both are equal

Activity A: Gases in and gases out

 Student Exploration: Plants and Snails

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

Snail and Plant OFF The snails go into there shells and sink to the
bottom. The tube turns yellow and there is
more CO2

Snail OFF The snails go into there shells and sink to the
bottom. The tube turns yellow, and there is
more CO2

Plant OFF The tube stays green, and there is just a little
bit more CO2

4 Plants ON The tube turns blue and the plants turn green.
There is NO O2, just CO2

4 Snails ON The snails go into there shells, and sink to the

bottom and there is still more CO2

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

a. What gas do plants give off in the light?

O2

b. How about in the dark?

CO2

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

a. What gas do animals give off in the light?

CO2

b. How about in the dark?

CO2

c. How do these results compare to your plant results?

They stay the same, and the plants were different.
 Student Exploration: Plants and Snails

4. Infer: Describe the carbon dioxide-oxygen cycle by completing the sentences below:
Animales breathe in:
oxygen
And breathe out:
Carbon dioxide
In sunlight, plants take in:
Water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide
And release:
Carbohydrotaes

Activity B: Interdependence

Get the Gizmo ready: Click Reset. Clear all of the test tubes. Turn the light switch to on and
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?

Yes

b. What happens to the O2 and CO2 levels?

The O2 levels drop and the CO2 levels rise

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, The levels will stay the same They stayed almost the same
lights on but there was a tiny bit more
CO2

1 snail, 2 sprigs, There will be more O2 levels There was more O2 levels
lights on

1 snail, 2 sprigs, The levels will be the same There was more CO2
lights off
 Student Exploration: Plants and Snails

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 animal shelter and provide oxygen for the animals to live

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.
You need one snail and two plants

Activity C: The carbon-oxygen balance

Get the Gizmo ready: Click Reset. Clear all of the test tubes. Turn the light switch to on and
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 Oxygen increases rapidly, and the CO2 decreases rapidly.

b. What is always true about the total amount of O2 and CO2 in the test tube?
That it depends on what is in the tube

c. What happens when the CO2 reaches zero?

It fell fast, and stays there

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 and CO2)

They slowly go up and down, but end with more CO2

b. What is the total of O2 and CO2?

 Student Exploration: Plants and Snails

O2- 3.2 CO2- 8.8

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

b. How do the gas levels change? (O2 and CO2)

There is a little bit more CO2, that started going up from the start

c. What is the total of O2 and CO2?

O2- 1.7 CO2- 10.3

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 they cancle eachother out.