Discovering photosynthesis

In the 17th century it was believed that everything was made up of four elements –
earth, fire, water and air. Plants were believed to be made from fire and earth. Jean-
Baptiste van Helmont (1579–1644) did an experiment to show that this was wrong.

Van Helmont said that his experiment showed that a plant could not be made from
earth because the mass of the soil decreased only a little bit but the mass of the
willow tree increased a lot. He said that the extra mass of the tree must be made
from water.

In 1771, Joseph Priestley did an experiment that showed that plants produced a gas
in which a candle would burn. He called this ‘dephlogisticated air’ (dee-floj-jiss-tick-
ay-ted).

He set up two glass chambers, one containing a plant and the other containing a
burning candle. He linked the chambers by a hose pipe.
1. If the hose pipe was blocked, the candle in chamber 2 went out after a short
time
2. If the passage along the hosepipe was open, then the candle in chamber 2
was still lit after 1 week

Priestley said that after a while the The candle could now burn again.
candle had Priestley said
produced so much ‘fixed air’ that it this was because the plant had
went out. changed the ‘fixed air’
into ‘dephlogisticated’ air during the
week.

In 1754, Charles Bonnet had shown that bubbles were produced by leaves placed
underwater. He said that this was due to dissolved air in the water sticking to the
leaves. However, in 1779, Jan Ingenhousz showed that leaves placed underwater
produced bubbles of ‘dephlogisticated air’ but only when the Sun was shining. He
also showed that only the green parts of plants would do this.

Later in 1782, Jean Senebier showed that ‘fixed air’ contained carbon dioxide and
that it was used up by the plant. During this time the idea that mass was conserved
in reactions was put forward. In 1804, Theodore de Saussure found that the mass of
carbon dioxide used up by a plant was not enough to account for the increase in
mass of the plant. Since the only other thing needed to keep the plant alive was
water, he suggested that both carbon dioxide and water were changed by the plant
into new material.

Questions to answer – WRITE ON A SEPARATE PAGE…

1 (a Write down the word equation for photosynthesis.)

(b Which substances are the reactants?)

c Which scientist showed that light was needed for photosynthesis to happen?

d What observation led him to develop this theory?

2 a What is the modern word for the gas produced by the candle to make ‘fixed
air’?

b What is the modern word for the gas produced by the plant to make ‘dephlogisticated
air’?

3 a Suggest how Ingenhousz may have collected a sample of ‘dephlogisticated

air’.

b How do you think he showed that this was ‘dephlogisticated’ and not ‘fixed’ air?

4 a Do you think van Helmont was successful in what he set out to prove? Explain your
answer.

b Explain why van Helmont’s conclusion was only half right.

c Van Helmont’s tree had a mass of 76.74 kg after five years. Why do you think that the
total mass of material produced by the plant was actually greater than this?