This is learning by enquiry - research your answers. You may work as a group, but everyone needs to compile a full set of answers.
Firstly a reminder about the basics of photosynthesis: Q.1 a) What are the raw materials taken in by a photosynthesising green plant, in order to make its own organic food? Water and carbon dioxide b) What else does the plant need from the environment in order to react the raw materials together? Sunlight c) There must be a sort of biological catalyst present in order to enable the combining of the raw materials. What is his substance? Chlorophyll d) The raw materials are reacted together to form which organic compound) Glucose e) Photosynthesis produces an important waste product what? Oxygen f) Now you should be able to write the word formula for the photosynthesis reaction the raw materials (reactants or substrates) react together to form products. Carbon dioxide + water= Glucose + oxygen g) Finally, write the balanced chemical or molecular formula for photosynthesis. CO2 +H2O=C6H12O6 +O2 Now lets look at the raw materials and resources and where they come from. Assume all the time that we are taking about a rooted, leafy, green plant your answers might be a little different if we were talking about algae in the oceans.
Q.2 CHLOROPHYLL a) Green plants actually make their own chlorophyll. Chlorophyll contains one important mineral ion, which must be absorbed from the soil. What is it? Magnesium b) Chlorophyll does not simply hang around inside plant cells, waiting for a bit of sun! The chlorophyll is found inside tiny organelles in photosynthesising cells. It is inside these organelles where most of the photosynthesis reaction occurs. What are these organelles called? Make a simple drawing of one. Chloroplast
Gabriel Cobo c) Very briefly, what do you understand by: i) the light dependent reaction; ii) the light independent reaction? i. The light is something that needs to happen in a reaction, and that could no happen without it. ii. A reaction that cannot happen without light.
Q.3 CARBON DIOXIDE a) About what percentage of the earths atmosphere is carbon dioxide? 0.24 b) Is this percentage rising or falling? Why? What might the effect of the change be on the rate of photosynthesis? (Be very brief with your answers here.) c) Where in plant leaves does the carbon dioxide enter?
d) A green plant will not be absorbing carbon dioxide a full 24 hours a day. It will therefore not be photosynthesising a full 24 hours. When will the plants not be absorbing carbon dioxide? At night time
Q.4 WATER a) From where do green plants obtain their water? Root, steam and leaves b) So, which parts of the plants must the water travel through in order to reach the leaves, where most of the photosynthesis takes places? Draw a simple diagram of a plant (root, stem, leaves) to illustrate the water flow through it.
c) As you saw in Q.3 d), photosynthesis does not take place a full 24 hours a day. Yet water does come up through the plant a full 24 hours a day. What happens to the excess water? How might you know this by looking at a plant in the early morning? Very briefly explain the physics behind this process. It comes out of the leaves as a waste, we know because there are water drops in the leaves.
Q.5 ENERGY/SUNLIGHT a) Roughly which wavelengths of light are used for photosynthesis? How do you know this from a simple observation about green plants? Blue and Red, because they are reflected from the leaves. b) A green plant must be able to maximise photosynthesis and absorb as much light as possible. It therefore has packed chloroplasts in the leaves. But how are the leaves and whole stems and branches ranged in order to maximise sunlight absorption? Draw some simple diagrams. Remember that plants in the tropics and in the north and/or south latitudes may have different characteristics. c) See if you can find some figures for the amount of sunlight absorbed by green plants on the Earths surface.
Gabriel Cobo Q.6 OXYGEN a) Plants, like all living organisms, use oxygen all the time. For what reaction? Respiration, the oxygen accumulate in the atmosphere due to photosynthesis in plants 20% in the atmosphere is oxygen b) But they give off more oxygen while they are photosynthesising. This oxygen accumulates in the atmosphere. What percentage of the atmosphere is oxygen? 20% in the atmosphere is oxygen c) There will probably be two times during 24 hours when the amount of oxygen absorbed into the plant equals the amount of oxygen generated in photosynthesis. What is the word used to describe these moments in the day? d) Why can we say that this point of balance between oxygen consumption and generation occurs twice during 24 hours?
Q.7 CARBOHYDRATES Glucose is first formed by all green plants, but this is rapidly converted into other carbohydrates and organic compounds, which the plant can store or use. a) What is the principle storage chemical which plants accumulate in their leaves or roots or even stems? Starch b) Some plants might use the glucose which they make, right away. For which reaction? Photosynthesis c) What two other types of chemical compound might the glucose be converted into? Lipids d) What does a green plant use these chemical compounds for?