B8 Photosynthesis

Exam-style questions
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

0 1 Some students investigated the effect of light intensity on the rate

of photosynthesis.
They used the apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

The students:
 placed the lamp 10 cm from the pondweed
 counted the number of bubbles of gas released from the
pondweed in 1 minute
 repeated this for different distances between the lamp and the
pondweed
The lamp gives out heat as well as light.

0 1 . 1 What could the students do to make sure that heat from the lamp
did not affect the rate of photosynthesis?
Use a low energy bulb or an LED bulb.

(1 mark)

0 1 . 2 Table 1 shows the students’ results.

Table 1

Distance in cm Number of bubbles per minute

10 84
15 84

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 B8 Photosynthesis
Exam-style questions
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

20 76
40 52
50 26

At distances between 15 cm and 50 cm, light intensity was a

limiting factor for photosynthesis.
What evidence is there for this in the table?
The evidence to show that light intensity was a limiting factor is
that the closer the bulb was to the pondweed the more bubbles
per minute meaning that the rate of photosynthesis increased.
(1 mark)

0 1 . 3 Give one factor that could have limited the rate of photosynthesis
when the distance was between 10 cm and 15 cm.
The temperature of the surroundings of the plant and the water
inside the plant. (1 mark)

0 1 . 4 Figure 2 shows a section through a plant leaf.

Figure 2

Describe the structure of the leaf and the functions of the tissues
in the leaf.
You should use the names of the tissues in your answer.
At the top of the leaf, there is the epidermis which is thin and transparent.
The waxy cuticle layer at the top of the leaf is there to protect it from infection and
prevent the loss of water through evaporation. This is to allow more light to reach the
palisade cells. The palisade cells are also at the top of the leaf making it able to absorb

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 B8 Photosynthesis
Exam-style questions
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

more light which increases the rate of photosynthesis. They also contain many
chloroplasts which increases the rate of absorption of light. (6 marks)
AQA, 2013

0 2 Some of the glucose produced in photosynthesis is used for

respiration or converted into storage products such
as starch or oils.

0 2 . 1 Explain why starch is a better storage material than glucose.

Starch is a better storage material because it is insoluble in water meaning it cannot be mixed with
water. However glucose is highly soluble meaning it can mix with water. (2 marks)

0 2 . 2 Describe one other use of glucose.

Glucose is also used to produce amino acids (1 mark)

0 3 . 1 Complete the equation for photosynthesis.

light energy
water + carbon dioxide glucose + oxygen (2
marks)

0 3 . 2 Scientists investigated how temperature affects the rate of

photosynthesis.
The scientists grew some orange trees in a greenhouse.
They used discs cut from the leaves of the young orange trees.
The scientists used the rate of oxygen production by the leaf discs
to show the rate of photosynthesis.
The leaf discs did not produce any oxygen in the dark.
Why?There wasn’t enough light energy in order for photosynthesis
to take place. (1 mark)

0 3 . 3 The leaf discs took in oxygen in the dark.

Explain why.
Plants go through aerobic respiration in the dark therefore it took
in oxygen to make energy. (2 marks)

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 B8 Photosynthesis
Exam-style questions
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

0 3 . In their investigation, the scientists measured the rate of oxygen

4
release by the leaf discs in the light. The scientists
then measured the rate of oxygen uptake by the leaf discs in the
dark.
Figure 3 shows the effect of temperature on:
 oxygen production in the light
 oxygen production in the light added to oxygen uptake in the dark.
Figure 3

Describe the effect of temperature on oxygen production in the light.

The production of oxygen increased as the temperature increased
however the rate of production decreased after the temperature
exceeded 40 degrees.

(2 marks)

0 3 . 5 Explain the effect of temperature on oxygen production in the light

when the temperature is increased:

from 25 °C to 35 °C

(1 mark)

from 40 °C to 50 °C

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 B8 Photosynthesis
Exam-style questions
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

(1 mark)

0 3 . 6A farmer in the UK wants to grow orange trees in a greenhouse.

He wants to sell the oranges he produces at a local market.
He decides to heat the greenhouse to 35 °C.
Explain why he should not heat the greenhouse to a temperature
higher than 35 °C.
Use information from Figure 3 in your answer.
Temperatures higher than 35 degrees would cause the rate of production of oxygen to
decrease which would lower the rate of photosynthesis and would a waste of money. (3 marks)
AQA, 2012
0 4 A student investigated how light intensity affected the rate of
photosynthesis of seaweed in the laboratory. The
light intensity was altered by moving a light source to a number of
different distances from the seaweed.

0 4 . 1 Describe how the light intensity on the seaweed changed as the

light source was moved.
As the distance between the seaweed and the light source is
increased the light intensity would also increase, if the distance is decreased
the light intensity will also increase.

0 4 . 2 Use the inverse square law to calculate the missing values in the
student’s results shown in Table 2. (2
marks)
Table 2

Distance from light

10 20 35 40 70
source in cm

Relative light intensity 240 60 20 15 5

Mean rate of oxygen 20 20 14 10 2

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 B8 Photosynthesis
Exam-style questions
Name ...................................................................... Class .................. Date .....................

production in bubbles per

minute

0 4 . 3 Using the student’s results, describe how light intensity affects the
rate of photosynthesis of seaweed.

As the light intensity increases the rate of oxygen production also increases (relative light intensity 5= 2
bubbles per minute but relative light intensity 35= 14 bubbles per minute). However at light intensities
higher than 60 the rate of oxygen production does not increase ( light intensity 60= 20 bubbles per
minute but light intensity 240= 20 bubbles per minute aswell).

(2 marks)

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