Photosynthesis Notes

Photosynthesis Notes
What is photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis is a chemical process in which we produce carbohydrate with
the help Water, light, chlorophyll (gives green color) and Co2. It is simply the
process through which plants make carbohydrate in to food which is stored in
the form of starch. In order to investigate photosynthesis we have to use a range
of chemicals and a range of apparatus also we will be utilizing the form of radiation
energy called light. So although photosynthesis is the mainly biology process but
we have to have some chemistry and physics knowledge as well.

Starch in leaves…..
 A store of energy
 A carbohydrate
 Forms colorless grains in the cytoplasm of leave cells specifically in Spongy Mesophyll and
Palisade layers
Figure 1 the layers of cells in a
leaf

(Experiment) Steps for testing the presence of

starch grains in the leaf are as follows:

1. Boil a beaker of water and turn heat source off

2. Dip a leaf in the boiling water for 30 second with the help of
forceps, this will kill the cells and prevent any further
reaction from taking place in the leaf also it will make easier
for the iodine to pass through.
3. Place the leaf at the bottom of a leave and cover it by
ethanol then put it in the boiling water, ethanol has the boiling point lower than water and as it
boils it dissolves chlorophyll which will later make it easy to see the colorless grain when iodine
is added to them.
4. The alcohol (ethanol) and leaf should be poured into another beaker and the leaf should be
separated with the help of forceps, now pour that brittle leaf in hot water to make it softer and
easier to handle in next step.
5. Put the soft leaf on a white tile and put drops of iodine and Figure 2 Removing Chlorophyll from a leaf
if starches grains are present it will turn them blue and
blackish color.

A Destarched plant….
 As the name suggests A Destarched plant is a plant without starch or from which starch has
been removed
 You can destarch any plant by putting it in a dark place for two to three days and once
plant Is Destarched it is ready to take in investigations about photosynthesis.

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 Photosynthesis Notes
Equation of Photosynthesis:
In photosynthesis water and carbon dioxide are used as raw material and in the presence of
light and chlorophyll they form Oxygen and glucose (starch).

Steps to build Equation of Photosynthesis:

Step #1)
Water is essential for any plants life and without it they can die. Water is drawn in the plant by roots
from the soil and then carried to all parts of Plant, including stem and leaf, by microscopic the xylem
tubes. So water is required for Photosynthesis:

Water+
Step #2)
For finding whether Carbon dioxide (CO2) is needed in Photosynthesis or not we have to conduct an
experiment:

1. Take two destarched plants

2. Wrap one destarched plant with transparent wrapping sheet and put a tray of soda lime
(mixture of sodium hydroxide and calcium which has the ability to absorb CO 2) in it.
3. Wrap the other destarched plant with transparent wrapping sheet as well and put a tray
of soda lime (which has the ability to releases CO 2 and enrich the air with CO2) in it.
4. Put both destarched plants in a sunny place for few hours.
5. Observe both for starch.

The non-carbon leave will be brown but the other one will be bluish-black while sunlight and Nutrients
were the same but Co2 was not present so the plant failed to produce starch or to carry out the
process of Photosynthesis, hence proved that CO2 is need for starch production and so also for
photosynthesis:
Water + Carbon dioxideCarbohydrate (starch)
Step #3)
For finding whether Light is needed in Photosynthesis or not, we have to
conduct an experiment:

1. Destarch a plant with two leaves.

2. Cover one leaf with aluminum foil, which is opaque
meaning that no light can pass through it.
3. Cover the other leaf with Transparent plastic, which is
meaning that light, can pass through it.
4. Leave the plant in a sunny place for about four hours.

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 Photosynthesis Notes
5. Remove the coverings and test both the leaves for starch.

You’ll observe that only the leaf which was allowed to have Light carried the process of
photosynthesis and produced starch. So light is required for photosynthesis:

Light
Water + Carbon dioxide------------Carbohydrate (starch)
Step #4)

A Variegated plant is the plant with green and white leaves; this plant is destarched
and left in sunlight for about four hours.

The parts those are white as they don’t have chlorophyll which turns the leaf
green. When the parts of the leaf which contained chlorophyll, which were green,
tested for starch they had it but when the parts of the leaf which didn’t contain
chlorophyll, which were white, tested for starch they did not had it which proves that
Chlorophyll is needed to carry out the process of Photosynthesis:

Light
Water + Carbon dioxide------------Carbohydrate (starch)
Chlorophyll
Step #5)

Joseph Priestly (1733-1804) was English Chemist who studied Gases; he studied
gasses by apparatus of that time which were; upside down containers put over an
experiment to catch any gases released. He discovered that a gas was produced by
plants in which things could not burn until they are exposed to light.

To prove his hypothesis he carried out a simple experiment:

1. Take a jar full of this gas

2. Put a mint plant in it
3. Observe that whether the gas could burn things or not

He thought that the gas is produced to refresh the air. When Joseph told this
investigation to a French Scientist, Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) he got curious

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 Photosynthesis Notes
and he carried out some experiments and test after which he named the gas as
Oxygen.

You can experiment on whether plant releases O 2 or not by:

1. Setting up the apparatus shown in the Figure.

2. Leave one in a sunny place and the other in a dark room.
3. Collect and observe the gas collected by the plants after a week.

You’ll see that the sunny one has produced much more O2 as compared to the
dark room one, hence proved that Oxygen (O2) is needed to carry out the process
of Photosynthesis:

Light
Water + Carbon dioxide------------Carbohydrate (starch) + Oxygen
Chlorophyll
Mineral Salts
When chemist started their studies on plants they found out a range of different
minerals such as Potassium (i.e. potassium nitrate or salt), phosphorus (i.e. phosphate
salts) and nitrogen (i.e. nitrate salts) that were obtained from soil by plants roots and
are called Mineral Salts. To study what happens without each Mineral salt they would
carry out an experiment

1. Make a mixture of all mineral salts except the one that is under examination and
make a mixture of all mineral salts including the one that is under examination.
2. Put one plant in each mixture under same circumstances and observe both of
their growth and difference made by the Mineral Salt.

From these studies Scientists have discovered that:

 Magnesium is needed for leaves development without it plant shows poor

growth and leaves turn yellow as chlorophyll needs nitrogen to maintain the
green color.
 Phosphorus is needed for roots development without it plant shows poor
growth; also it fails to carry out the process of Photosynthesis and
Respiration.

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 Photosynthesis Notes
 Potassium is needed for the flowers and fruits of the Plant without it leaves
turn yellow and grow abnormally as it helps plant make chlorophyll and
protein which form part of plant’s structures.

When animals eat these mineral salts through plant tissues, they use these and
release the other from the body in the form of Urine or Faeces upon which
bacteria feeds and so they go back in the soil. The mineral soils that are taken
in by animal also go back in soil by the process of decomposition in which
Biodegradable(things that can broken down into simpler substances that can be
used again to form another living organism) animals die and the minerals in their
body a absorbed by the soil after which the cycle continues.

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