Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Investigating the process of photosynthesis
Literature review and background on photosynthesis
Investigating the process of photosynthesis
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Investigating the process of photosynthesis
The Absorption Spectrum of Chlorophyll
Water + carbon dioxide → glucose + oxygen
6H2O + 6CO2 → C6H12O6 + 6O2
Absorption Spectrum
An absorption spectrum shows which wavelength of light a molecule
absorbs.
Action Spectrum
An action spectrum shows the effect of each wavelength of light on the
rate of photosynthesis
The absorption spectrum of chlorophyll is very similar to the action
spectrum of photosynthesis. This is evidence that chlorophyll absorbs
light for photosynthesis.
The Light and Dark Reaction
1) The light reaction
light
6H2O→12H + 3O2 Light splits water into hydrogen ions and oxygen.
2) The dark reaction
enzymes
12H + 6CO2 → C6H12O6 + 3O2 Glucose is then formed from the hydrogen
ions and carbon dioxide. (This reaction does not occur in the dark).
Factors affecting the rate of photosynthesis
The Light Reaction
Chlorophyll can split more water molecules at higher light
intensities. Photosynthesis will reach a maximum rate when chlorophyll
is saturated by sunlight.
The Dark Reaction
An increase in temperature will increase the rate of glucose
production until it reaches the optimum temperature for the enzymes.
The enzymes will be denatured if it goes above a certain temperature.
An increase in carbon dioxide will also increase the rate of glucose
production.
Millions of years ago there was much more carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere, the plants sucked up the carbon dioxide and pumped out
oxygen, this gave the atmosphere we have today.
These factors depend on each other. They must all be at their optimal
amount for photosynthesis to occur at a maximum rate. The factor that
restricts the effect of the others is known as the 'limiting factor'.
Use of glucose from photosynthesis
Respiration
Energy is released from glucose and used for growth and repair.
Storage
Glucose is stored as starch. Starch is insoluble and so doesn't change
the osmotic potential of the cell. Starch is made of long chains of
Absorbance was defined as: log I_o/I where I_o is incident light and I is the transmitted light. Fluorescence emission spectrum is different from fluorescence excitation spectrum because it records different wavelengths of chemical s...
The basic principle of the spectrophotometeric technique is the measurement of interaction between energy and electrons of the substance. Spectrophotometric technique is an analytical method used for estimating concentration of metal ion in liquid solution. One of the most magnificent effects of complex formation is the change of spectral properties. The reason for light absorption by complexes are as follows.
Photosynthesis consists of the following equation: Sun light Carbon dioxide + Water = = == == ==> Glucose + Oxygen Chlorophyll Chlorophyll is a substance found in chloroplasts, found in the cells of leaves.
The high rate of absorbance change in blue light in the chloroplast samples (Figure 1) can be attributed to its short wavelength that provides a high potential energy. A high rate of absorbance change is also observed in red light in the chloroplast samples (Figure 1), which can be accredited to the reaction centre’s preference for a wavelength of 680nm and 700nm – both of which fall within the red light range (Halliwell, 1984). Green light showed low rates of photosynthetic activity and difference in change in absorbance at 605nm in the chloroplast samples (Figure 1) as it is only weakly absorbed by pigments, and is mostly reflected. The percentage of absorption of blue or red light by plant leaves is about 90%, in comparison to the 70–80% absorbance in green light (Terashima et al, 2009). Yet despite the high absorbance and photosynthetic activity of blue light, hypocotyl elongation was suppressed and biomass production was induced (Johkan et al, 2012), which is caused by the absorption of blue light by the accessory pigments that do not transfer the absorbed energy efficiently to the chlorophyll, instead direction some of the energy to other pathways. On the other hand, all of the red light is absorbed by chlorophyll and used efficiently, thus inducing hypocotyl elongation and the expansion in leaf area (Johkan et al, 2012).
The equation of photosynthesis is: 6CO2 + 6H20 Þ C6H12O6 + 6O2 = = = =
The Effect of Light Intensity on the Rate of Oxygen Production in a Plant While Photosynthesis is Taking Place
The energy inside molecules is called chemical energy, so light energy is converted into chemical energy by the chlorophyll. I believe that the results are reliable enough to support the hypothesis, because the graph of results proves the hypothesis because the gradient of the curve increases with the increase of the light intensity. I think that the method used is reliable enough to support the prediction. Overall, both graphs and my results support my predictions fully. My idea that the rate of photosynthesis would increase with light intensity was comprehensively backed up by my results.
The Effects of Concentration of Sugar on the Respiration Rate of Yeast Investigating the effect of concentration of sugar on the respiration rate of yeast We did an investigation to find how different concentrations of sugar effect the respiration rate of yeast and which type of concentration works best. Respiration is not breathing in and out; it is the breakdown of glucose to make energy using oxygen. Every living cell in every living organism uses respiration to make energy all the time. Plants respire (as well as photosynthesise) to release energy for growth, active uptake, etc…. They can also respire anaerobically (without oxygen) to produce ethanol and carbon dioxide as by-products.
The process of photosynthesis is present in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells and is the process in which cells transform energy in the form of light from the sun into chemical energy in the form of organic compounds and gaseous oxygen (See Equation Below). In photosynthesis, water is oxidized to gaseous oxygen and carbon dioxide is reduced to glucose. Furthermore, photosynthesis is an anabolic process, or in other words is a metabolism that is associated with the construction of large molecules such as glucose. The process of photosynthesis occurs in two steps: light reactions and the Calvin cycle. The light reactions of photosynthesis take place in the thylakoid membrane and use the energy from the sun to produce ATP and NADPH2. The Calvin cycle takes place in the stroma of the chloroplast and consumes ATP and NADPH2 to reduce carbon dioxide to a sugar.
"Photosynthesis chlorophyll light intensity temperature carbon dioxide factors affecting rate." Photosynthesis chlorophyll light intensity temperature carbon dioxide factors affecting rate. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2014. .
= = = [IMAGE][IMAGE]6CO2 + 6h20 light energy and chlorophyll C6H1206 + 6O2 Carbon dioxide + water converted into glucose and oxygen. Theory of photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a chemical reaction, which uses the energy from sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water to oxygen.
The Effect of Light Intensity on Photosynthesis Of Elodea Canadensis Introduction I wanted to find out how much the light intensity affected the Photosynthesis in Elodea Camadensa. I decided to do this by measuring the amount of oxygen created during photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the procedure all plants go through to make food. This process uses Carbon dioxide, water and light energy. It produces Oxygen and Glucose.
Input variables In this experiment there are two main factors that can affect the rate of the reaction. These key factors can change the rate of the reaction by either increasing it or decreasing it. These were considered and controlled so that they did not disrupt the success of the experiment. Temperature-
Oxygen is a 'waste' product of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis takes place in the mesophyll cells inside a green plant's leaves. 6 CO2 + 6 H2O givesC6H12O6 + 6 O2 Carbon Dioxide + Water gives Glucose + Oxygen A limiting factor is one that controls a process, such as organism growth or species population size or distribution. In photosynthesis the rate is affected by three factors, temperature, carbon dioxide concentration and light. Not enough light can slow down the rate of photosynthesis, without enough light a plant cannot photosynthesise very fast, even if there is plenty of water and carbon dioxide.
An Experiment to Investigate the Effect of Light Intensity on the Rate of Photosynthesis. Introduction Photosynthetics take place in the chloroplasts of green plant cells. It can produce simple sugars using carbon dioxide and water causing the release of sugar and oxygen. The chemical equation of photosynthesis is: [ IMAGE ] 6CO 2 + 6H20 C 6 H12 O 6 + 6O2 It has been proven many times that plants need light to be able to photosynthesize, so you can say that without light the plant would neither photosynthesize nor survive.