2.37 Describe experiments to investigate the evolution of carbon dioxide and heat from respiring seeds or other suitable living organisms

Experiment would be set up as follows to investigate release of carbon dioxide:

• Put x grams of germinating seeds in a test tube.
• Cover it with a bung/cork with a tube through it
• Have one end of the tube in limewater
• If it turns cloudy, carbon dioxide has been given off
• See figure 1

Figure 1: Apparatus

To investigate the release of heat:

• Put seeds in a test tube
• Seal it with a cotton puff
• Place a thermometer in it
• Place the setup in a cold room (no less than 15ºC)
• Measure initial temperature
• Measure temperature after x amount of time (eg 20 mins)
• Have another test tube, in the same room, with the same amount but have the seeds boiled. Leave it for the same amount of time.
• Compare test tube 1 and 2. :)

Figure 2: Apparatus

Note that all images used in this post were created by me.