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Plant Nutrition Worksheets: - Objectives
Plant Nutrition Worksheets: - Objectives
•OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this topic you should:
(a) Understand the importance of photosynthesis whereby green plants use chlorophyll to
absorb light energy and convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose, producing oxygen
as a by-product.
(b) Know that the rate of photosynthesis may be decreased by low temperature, shortage
of carbon dioxide, low light intensity.
(c) Know the uses made by plant cells of the glucose produced in photosynthesis.
B. plants get water and mineral ions (e.g. nitrates) from the soil.
E. some plant cells use a green pigment called chlorophyll to absorb light energy.
G. plants can make food using light energy to combine carbon dioxide and water.
I. plants can make sugars, starch, cellulose and fats from photosynthesis.
3. Write down the word equation for photosynthesis, and the balanced chemical equation
below it.
•Read your textbook or support material on limiting factors for photosynthesis. Explain
the term limiting factor:
What are the 3 main limiting factors for photosynthesis?
Explain HOW and WHY each one limits photosynthesis:
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(ii)_____________________________________________________________________
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(iii)______________________________________________________________________________
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•Identify and label different cellular and tissue structure of a dicotyledonous leaf.
A:__________________ B:____________________
C:__________________ D:____________________
E:__________________ F:____________________
G:__________________ H:____________________
I:__________________
•Experiment No. 1: Testing a leaf for starch.
1. Take a leaf from a healthy plant and drop it into boiling water in a water bath. Leave it for
about 30 seconds. (The length of time varies for different types of leaves.)
2. Remove the leaf, which will be very soft and drop it into a tube of alcohol in the water bath.
Leave it until all the chlorophyll has been dissolved out of the leaf.
3. The leaf then now is brittle. Remove it from alcohol, and dip it into water again to soften it.
4. Spared out the leaf on a white tile, and cover it with iodine solution. A black colour shows
that the leaf contain starch.
Note: Alcohol is very inflammable so it must not be heated directly over a bunsen flame.
Questions:
1. Why was the leaf put into boiling water?
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2. Why did the alcohol become green ?
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3. Why was the leaf put into alcohol after being put into boiling water?
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•Experiment No. 2: To see if light is necessary for photosynthesis.
1. Take a healthy plant, growing in a pot. Leave it in a cupboard for a few days, to de starch it.
2. Test one of its leaves for starch, to check that it does not contain any.
3. Using a folded piece of paper or aluminum foil, a little larger than the leaf, cut out a shape.
Fasten the paper or foil firmly over both sides of a leaf on your plant, making sure that the
edges are held firmly together. Don’t take the leaf off the plant.
4. Leave the plant near a warm, sunny window, and test it for starch. Make a labeled drawing of
the appearance of your leaf after testing of starch.
Questions:
1. Why was the palnt destarched before the beginning of the experiment?
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Questions:
1.What was the control in this experiment?
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Questions :
1 . Why was this experiment done under water?
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2. This experiment has no control. Try to design one?
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• Glossary. (Muddled – sort them out!)
1. Carbon dioxide Dissolves chlorophyll and decolorizes leaves in starch test
2. Cellulose Gas needed for photosynthesis; limiting factor
3. Chlorophyll Energy-rich storage compounds e.g. sunflower oil
4. Chloroplast Cell wall polysaccharide; made from many glucose units
5 .Ethanol Small structures inside leaf cells packed with chlorophyll
6. Fats (oils) Turns blue-black when mixed with starch
7. Glucose Green pigment which absorbs light energy for photosynthesis
8 .Iodine solution Mineral ions absorbed from soil; needed to make proteins
9. Light energy Sugar made in plants by photosynthesis; used in respiration
10 .Light intensity Waste gas produced by photosynthesis; used in respiration
11. Limiting factor Absorbed by chlorophyll; needed for photosynthesis
12. Nitrates Storage polysaccharide; made from many glucose units
13. Oxygen Increasing this increases light energy; limiting factor
14. Proteins A leaf containing yellow areas which lack chlorophyll
15. Starch An independent variable which controls rate of photosynthesis
16. Stencil Limiting factor; supplies heat energy for enzymes to work
17 .Temperature Made from sugars and nitrates; needed for plant growth
18. Variegated Leaf partly covered in foil, excluding light from covered areas