CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 9: TEACHER’S RESOURCE
Learner’s Book
answers
Unit 1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle
Topic 1.1 Photosynthesis
Getting started
Learners should see that the plant that has light is
taller and greener than the one kept in the dark.
They may also see that leaves of the plant in the
light are broader and more numerous, and the stems
are thicker. Learners may remember that plants
make food by photosynthesis, and cannot do this
in the dark, so they do not have enough ‘food’ to
be able to grow well. They may also know that
chlorophyll is what makes plants look green, and
that this is used to absorb energy from light. With
no light, the plant does not make chlorophyll.
Questions
1 carbon dioxide and water
2 glucose and oxygen
3 Photosynthesis transfers energy from sunlight
into chemical energy in glucose. The plant
can use the glucose to make other substances.
When the grasshopper eats grass, it takes in
some of this energy. The lizard gets some of
the energy when it eats the grasshopper.
4 Plants release oxygen into the air when they
photosynthesise. Animals such as lizards need
oxygen for respiration.
Activity: Words beginning with photo-
Easy words include: photograph, photography,
photographer, photographing, photocopier,
photocopying and photocopy. A few learners may
also know photostat and photogenic. Other less
likely words for them to think of include photon,
photophobia, photocell and photofinish.
Think like a scientist: Collecting the gas
produced in photosynthesis
1 So that the gas could be collected over water.
2 So that the water plant could get energy for
photosynthesis.
Cambridge Lower Secondary Science 9 – Mary Jones, Diane Fellowes-Freeman & Michael Smyth
1 © Cambridge University Press 2021
Think like a scientist: Investigating
how light intensity affects the rate of
photosynthesis
1 This will depend on the results that learners
obtain. They are likely to find that the mean
number of bubbles is greatest when the lamp
is closest to the test tube.
2 Check that:
• the axes are the right way round, with
distance of lamp on the x-axis and mean
number of bubbles on the y-axis
• both axes are fully labelled, including units
• there are good scales on both axes
• the points are plotted neatly as small
crosses, in exactly the right places
• a neat line has been drawn; this could be a
best fit line, or learners could use a ruler to
join each point to the next.
3 decreases
4 increases
Activity: Photosynthesis and respiration
Similarities: They are both chemical reactions.
They both happen inside cells. They both involve
energy changes (energy transfers). They both
involve glucose, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water.
Differences: Respiration happens in all living cells,
but photosynthesis only happens in some plant cells.
(Some learners may also know that photosynthesis
can happen in the cytoplasm in bacterial cells, but
this knowledge is not expected at this level.)
Respiration happens in cytoplasm and mitochondria,
but photosynthesis happens in chloroplasts.
Photosynthesis needs sunlight, but respiration
does not.
The reactants in respiration are the products in
photosynthesis, and vice versa.
In photosynthesis, energy from sunlight is
transferred to chemical energy in glucose.
In respiration, energy in glucose is released for the
cell to use.
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 9: TEACHER’S RESOURCE
Topic 1.2 More about
photosynthesis
Getting started
1 in the green parts/in the leaves and stem
2 because they contain chlorophyll
3 because they are not green/do not receive light
Think like a scientist: Planning an
investigation into the effect of
fertilisers on plant growth
1 The hypothesis should state a predicted effect
that changing one variable has on another
variable. For example:
The more fertiliser the duckweed plants have,
the faster they will grow.
There are many other possible hypotheses.
Check that the hypothesis is genuinely testable
by experiment.
2 Answers will depend on the hypothesis being
tested. It is advisable to have at least five
different values of the variable.
3 Learners are likely to suggest counting the
number of leaves. They could either decide to
count each set of duckweed just once, after a
set period of time, or they could count each
one at regular intervals such as every two days.
4 This will depend on which variables are being
changed; any other variables that could affect
the rate of growth, such as light intensity and
temperature, should be kept the same.
5 This will depend on the learner’s experiment.
They are likely to need Petri dishes, some
duckweed plants, some fertiliser and a way of
measuring it, and a timer.
6 There are few risks in this experiment.
Fertiliser should be handled with care, as it
would not be good for it to be ingested. Clean
up any spills quickly.
7 The predictions should match the hypothesis.
Answers to questions 1 and 2 in part 2 will vary
from learner to learner.
Activity: Which surface of a leaf has
most stomata?
Learners should see more bubbles emerging from
the lower surface of the leaf because this is where
most stomata are.
Cambridge Lower Secondary Science 9 – Mary Jones, Diane Fellowes-Freeman & Michael Smyth
2 © Cambridge University Press 2021
The bubbles contain air. They are likely to
contain a lot of oxygen if the leaf has been
photosynthesising.
The warm water makes the gases inside the air
spaces in the leaf expand, which makes them come
out of the leaf.
Questions
1 The carbon dioxide particles have kinetic energy.
They are in constant, random motion. By chance,
some of them will go into the leaf through the
stomata. Some will also come out. But, overall,
more will go in than out because there are more
of them outside the leaf than inside it.
2 Some of the oxygen diffuses out of the leaf.
Some of the oxygen is used in respiration.
3 Plants get their protein by using the
carbohydrates they make in photosynthesis
and adding nitrogen to them to make proteins.
Animals get their protein by feeding on plants
and/or other animals.
4 Nitrate and magnesium are both needed for
making chlorophyll, so a shortage of either
of them makes leaves go yellow. Nitrate is
also needed for making proteins, but without
magnesium the plant cannot photosynthesise,
so it has fewer carbohydrates to make proteins
from. A lack of either nitrate or magnesium
reduces growth.
Think like a scientist: Testing a leaf for
starch
1 a Starch is stored in the chloroplasts.
b Boiling breaks down the cell membranes,
so the iodine can reach the starch.
2 This makes it easier to see the colour change
when iodine solution is added.
3 Most learners will get a positive test result,
showing that the leaf does contain starch. This
was produced from the glucose that was made
by photosynthesis in the chloroplasts.
4 Only the green parts contained starch. The
white parts have no chlorophyll, which is
needed to absorb energy from sunlight and
without which photosynthesis cannot happen.
Topic 1.3 The carbon cycle
Getting started
In carbon dioxide in the air, the carbon atom is part
of a compound; in photosynthesis it becomes part
of a glucose molecule, but is still a carbon atom.
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 9: TEACHER’S RESOURCE
Questions
1 a The food chain should have a correct
sequence of organisms, with one plant
and three animals. Arrows should go in
the correct direction. For example:
fig tree → wasp → spider → lizard.
b Yes, the arrows could also indicate how
carbon atoms are transferred. Carbon
is contained in the food that animals
eat, in the form of compounds such as
carbohydrates and proteins.
2 Proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Learners
could also suggest particular compounds, such
as haemoglobin. (Note that animals do not
contain starch.)
3 There would be no (or very little) combustion
of fossil fuels.
4 They take a very long time to form. We are
using them up much faster than they are being
replenished.
Think like a scientist: How do plants
and animals affect carbon dioxide
concentration?
1 Learners will probably find these results:
Tube A: yellow, high carbon dioxide
Tube B: purple, no carbon dioxide
Tube C: yellow, high carbon dioxide
Tube D: yellow, high carbon dioxide
Tube E: yellow, high carbon dioxide
Tube F: red, some carbon dioxide
2 Organisms were respiring in all the tubes.
3 Plants were photosynthesising in tubes B and F.
4 a Carbon dioxide would be used up in tube B.
b Carbon dioxide would be given out in
tubes A, C, D and E.
5 Tube A: No photosynthesis because no light;
plant respires, giving out carbon dioxide.
Tube B: Plant photosynthesises and respires,
but photosynthesises more than it respires;
carbon dioxide is used up.
Tube C: Maggots respire, giving out carbon
dioxide.
Tube D: Maggots respire, giving out carbon
dioxide.
Tube E: No photosynthesis because no light;
plant respires, giving out carbon dioxide.
Maggots respire, giving out carbon dioxide.
Cambridge Lower Secondary Science 9 – Mary Jones, Diane Fellowes-Freeman & Michael Smyth
3 © Cambridge University Press 2021
Tube F: Plant photosynthesises and respires,
but photosynthesises more than it respires,
and therefore uses up carbon dioxide.
Maggots respire, giving out carbon dioxide.
The two are likely to balance out.
6 To make sure that having a platform in place
did not cause the differences between the
results in the different tubes.
Activity: Modelling the carbon cycle
1 No, in the real carbon cycle only some carbon
atoms will move at any one point in time.
Learners could suggest having only one or two
atoms moving on each occasion.
2 Learners should find that stopping
combustion results in fewer carbon atoms
ending up in the air.
Topic 1.4 Climate change
Questions
A 3; B 1; C 3; D2
Questions
1 An asteroid is a rock, smaller than a planet,
which orbits the Sun.
2 It produced a lot of heat, which killed plants
and animals close to the collision site.
It produced a huge tsunami, which killed
plants and animals on land that were swamped
by sea water.
It sent dust high into the atmosphere, so plants
died because they could not photosynthesise.
Animals then died because there was no food
for them to eat.
3 1.3 °C
4 The temperature fell by 0.3 °C between 1880 and
1910. It rose by 1.6 °C between 1910 and 2016.
5 Multiply the number of years until the end of
the century by 3 mm.
6 As the mean global temperature increases,
more land ice melts and adds extra water to
the oceans. Also, higher temperatures cause
sea water to expand.
Think like a scientist: How do rising
temperatures affect sea level?
1 Learners should find that melting ice on
land and increasing water temperature both
increase the water level. Melting ice in the sea
does not increase the water level.
2 They indicate how sea level is expected to rise.
 CAMBRIDGE LOWER SECONDARY SCIENCE 9: TEACHER’S RESOURCE
Activity: The carbon cycle and
climate change
Respiration and combustion increase the level of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Photosynthesis
decreases it.
Learners could suggest:
• Plant more trees, because they will
photosynthesise and take carbon dioxide out of
the air.
• Stop deforestation (same reason).
• Stop burning fossil fuels, to reduce combustion.
• Stop using so much energy, so that we do not
need to use as much fuel.
Learners may also be aware of other issues not
covered here, such as eating less meat (because
production and transport of meat uses a lot of
energy and produces a lot of carbon dioxide) or
reducing air travel.
Check your progress
1.1 a carbon dioxide
b oxygen
c soil
d chlorophyll
e stomata
1.2 a the type of seaweed
b Any three from: the temperature;
the light intensity; the size of the
piece of seaweed; the time for which
the apparatus is left.
c the volume of gas collected (after a set
period of time).
1.3 a 4 tonnes per hectare
b Adding more than 60 kg per ha gives
only a very small increase in yield. It is
likely that the cost of the extra fertiliser
would outweigh the small increase in
income from selling the grain.
Unit 2 Properties of materials
Topic 2.1 Atomic structure and
the Periodic Table
Getting started
Answers will depend on what learners can recall.
You should use this as a form of assessment
for learning. Learners should manage to name
electrons, neutrons, protons and the nucleus. Some
Cambridge Lower Secondary Science 9 – Mary Jones, Diane Fellowes-Freeman & Michael Smyth
4 © Cambridge University Press 2021
c
The wheat plants use the nitrate to make
proteins. The proteins can be used to
make new cells, some of which will be
used to produce the grains.
d In a different place, there might be a
different concentration of nitrate in the
soil before the fertiliser is added. There
might be a lack of other minerals in the
soil. The soil might be better or worse
at holding water. There might be more
shade in one place than another. The
temperature might be different.
e Magnesium is needed for making
chlorophyll.
1.4 a i D
ii B
iii A
iv C
b i 3
ii 2
iii 1
c glucose, starch, carbohydrate, protein,
fat, cellulose or chlorophyll – allow any
other correct organic compound.
1.5 a
Sea level will rise. There will be more
extreme weather events, such as
typhoons and hurricanes.
b i Many species of organisms are
completely destroyed.
ii Look for the idea of long-term
reduction in photosynthesis
because of dust thrown up into the
atmosphere, which reduces light
penetration.
This in turn reduces food for
animals.
Other reasons are the immediate
results of the impact, including
the heat and pressure wave in the
vicinity of the impact, and a
massive tsunami.
may be able to give facts such as the charges on the
particles: protons – positive, neutrons – no charge
and electrons – negative. They may be able to
recall the relative masses of the particles: protons
and neutrons having more mass than electrons.
They may be able to recall the arrangement of the
particles as in the Rutherford model.