Writing a lab report about a lab that was completed on cellular respiration, and I am needing some help understanding the entire concept and what is happening.
In the lab, we started by germinating millet seeds in a dark, warm environment. What is happening in this process? Is cellular respiration taking place during this, to allow the seeds to germinate?
Once the seeds are germinated, we placed 100 germinated seeds in a test tube, and 100 non germinated seeds in another test tube. We then placed cotton balls that were saturated in NaOH on top of the seeds, and flipped the test tubes over. We then placed the two test tubes in 50 mL of distilled water, with the opening of the test tubes approx. 5 mm from the bottom of the beaker of distilled water. We then placed the test tubes (sitting in the beaker) in the direct light of a 100 watt light bulb for 2 hours, and recorded the distance the water has traveled up the test tube (photos included below to better explain) every 20 minutes for 2 hours.
The test tube with the germinated seeds had a water line that moved up 1.10 cm over the course of 2 hours, and the non germinated seeds did not have the water move up the test tube at all.
Please explain to me the process that is occurring during all of this. Is photosynthesis and cellular respiration happening simultaneously? What is the purpose of this experiment and what is it attempting to demonstrate? There is also the topic of fermentation within this experiment, but I have no idea when and if fermentation occurred? Is that what is happening during the germination of the seeds?
Thank you in advance!!!
