Oxygen Product of My Own

Oxygen Product of My Own
-(Nature Experiment)-

When we stand below a big tree in the day, we feel fresh. It is because the tree produce a lot of oxyigen we need to breathe. It also protect us from direct sunlight, so we can sit for a rest when it is to hot to walk in open area.

How much oxygen is produced by a plant? We can guess a number of it, but without makin an experiment and without a data, it seems hard to do that count. Many people ignore about forest and plants because they do not see or feel the functions. When we see clearly what really happened, and how it can benefit us, I believe that we will think more serious to save the planet :) That is our purpose with this experiment.

Needs
A kind of sinking water plant
A transparent drinking glass or a small aquarium
Rubber and plastic wrap

Pick a water plant that sink in the water, for example hydrilla, water grass, or something else. If you find trouble, you can buy it in the fish / pet shop. In my country there is a special market that sell many things related with water life, including fishes, plants, the food, aquarium and more. Can you found a kind of of market in your country?

Then fill ¾ part of the glass with water. Put the plant in the glass and seal the glass with plastic wrap and rubber, so the air can not escape freely. After that, bring the glass and put it in the place exposed by direct sunlight.

Soon the plant will start doing photosynthetic activity and some oxygen bubbles will appear. After 5 to 10 minutes, open the plastic and let some kids inhale their “own made” oxygen. Ask them about their feeling (do not foget, asking about feelings also can make a kid familiar to express their thinking).

This is some of their answer :
Happy, I create my own oxygen
I feel funny, I never think that this plant producing oxygen
Happy, I want to create more oxygen with my plants
I wonder how much oxygen produced in my backyard?
I think I smell an oxygen…

For intermediate and advance, we can modify this experiment into:
- Making the water turbid by mix the water with food colour or other kind of dye (we can discuss about water pollution then, and how it related with the lost of oxygen productivity in water)
- Try to find the data in the internet about numbers of oxygen productivity / carbon absorption in a forest and carbon release by industry, then we can discuss how we need to make balance between this number.