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Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants manufacture carbohydrates from raw materials
using energy from light:
Chlorophyll is where photosynthesis happens. It transfers light energy into chemical energy for
the synthesis of carbohydrates (i.e. glucose).
The glucose is then either converted to sucrose for transport around the plant or starch for
storage.
Glucose is too reactive to be transported around the plant on its own. There it has to
be converted to sucrose first.
It is the same story with storage. Glucose cannot be stored due to its reactivity, so
therefore it must be converted to starch first.
Limiting factor
The term limiting factor is something present in the environment in such a short supply that it
restricts life processes.
For instance, if there was a shortage of carbon dioxide but all other raw materials were in
abundance, then carbon dioxide would be the limiting factor for photosynthesis. If there was a
shortage of chlorophyll, then that would become the limiting factor instead.
Investigations
Necessity of chlorophyll, light, and carbon dioxide
In a nutshell, what we need to do is get a functioning plant and deprive it of each of these factors
individually and prove that the plant stops photosynthesizing when these factors are absent.
The way to do that is pretty simple. First of all, we are going to de-starch all our plants by
leaving the plants in the dark for 48 hours. During this period the plants will be unable to
photosynthesize and therefore use up all its starch for respiration. This means that in the
beginning of our experiments, all plants (test and control) will have absolutely no starch in them.
This means that after the experiment, if we do a starch test (iodine test) and we find starch is
present, it would indicate that photosynthesis had occurred.
It is to note however that we can’t just add iodine onto a fresh leaf and expect results. First of all,
we need to break the leaf so that iodine can seep in to begin with. Moreover, we need to remove
the chlorophyll to decolorize the leaf so that the color change from iodine is easier to see. So
here are the steps we need to take:
To investigate the effect of light on photosynthesis, we need to partially cover the leaves of the
plant and leave it under sunlight. The covered areas will be deprived of light whereas the rest
will be exposed. A starch test is then carried out after a few hours. The results should show that
the covered areas have a negative starch test (i.e. no photosynthesis) whereas the exposed areas
have a positive starch test.
To investigate the effect of carbon dioxide on photosynthesis, we place a test plant in a
container with a carbon dioxide absorber (i.e. sodium hydroxide) and a control plant without the
absorber. The absorber will remove the carbon dioxide.
A starch test is then carried out after several hours. The results should show that the test plant has
a negative result whereas the control plant has a positive one.
After several hours, a starch test is carried out. The results should show that parts of the leaf
without chlorophyll will show negative results whereas the parts that do have chlorophyll will
show a positive result.
Effect of light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature on rate of
photosynthesis
You need to be aware of a couple of different graphs. They are quite simple so don’t worry.
Graph 1: Rate of photosynthesis increases with light intensity until it plateaus. The graph
plateaus because something else becomes the limiting factor (i.e. carbon dioxide). This
means that even with a stronger light intensity, there may not be enough carbon dioxide
to make the rate of photosynthesis even faster.
Graph 2: Rate of photosynthesis increases with increasing carbon dioxide concentration.
Again, at a certain point the graph will plateau. In this case, the light may become the
limiting factor.
Graph 3: The rate of photosynthesis increases with temperature until the graph reverses
and eventually drops down to zero. This is because high temperatures will denature
enzymes that are required for photosynthesis.
Leaf structure
You need to know the structure of a leaf, and how this structure is adapted for photosynthesis.
We will go through the functions of each of the structures in the diagram above:
Mineral requirements
There are two important mineral requirements for plants that you need to be aware of.
Firstly, nitrate ions are important for plants as they are used in building amino acids (which
eventually become proteins). A nitrate ion deficiency would slow down the growth of the plant,
the stem would weaken. Lower leaves will turn yellow-ish and the upper leaves will become pale
green as they die off.
Secondly, magnesium ions are required to make chlorophyll. If a plant has a magnesium ion
deficiency, then they will lack chlorophyll. Leaves turn yellow from the bottom of the stem
upwards and plant growth will slow down due to reduced photosynthesis.