Unit 3 – Major Biological Activities of Organisms

Tutorial 3.1 Photosynthesis

1. What is photosynthesis?
Synthesis of food using CO2 and water with the help of chlorophylls in the presence of sunlight.

2. Name the external and internal factors essential for photosynthesis.

External – sunlight, CO2 and water.
Internal – Chlorophylls, enzymes.

3. What is the source of energy for the above process?

Sunlight

4. Give the balanced equation for photosynthesis.

Sunlight
6CO2 + 6H2O ---------------------> C6H12O6 + 6O2
Chlorophylls

5. Name the main product & the by-product of photosynthesis.

Main product is Glucose , By-product is O2

6. Briefly explain the importance of photosynthesis.

CO2 is taken out from air thereby reduce its concentration in air.
Balances O2 concentration in air by releasing O2 as a by-product.

7. Explain the fate of glucose which is the first and main product of photosynthesis in the plant.
Glucose is temporarily converted to a non-soluble substance starch and stored inside the chlorophylls
itself. At night starch is converted to sucrose which is a water soluble form and as a solution it is
transported to other parts of the plant through phloem. This process is called Translocation of food.

8. Draw and label a part of the lower epidermis of a dicot leaf showing the place where the gaseous
exchange during photosynthesis occurs.

L’;
9. Draw and label a cell diagram of a transverse section of a dicot leaf.

10. Explain how the leaf structure is best adapted to perform its main function of photosynthesis.

- Flat surface to absorb maximum amount of light over a large surface area.
- Presence of Chlorophylls to absorb solar energy.
- No Chlorophyll on the upper epidermis to avoid getting burnt and destroyed by the sun.
- Intercellular spaces in spongy parenchyma allows easy passage of CO 2 to chloroplasts.
- Cuticle for protection and reflection of hot solar rays.
- Extensive network of vascular tissues (xy &Ph) to supply water and to remove sugars formed.
- Stomata for gaseous exchange.

11. Explain briefly about the instances where organs other than leaves, have taken over the role of
photosynthesis.
Skin of raw fruits and calyx of flowers are green. Hence they photosynthesize.
In plants like Cactus the leaves are reduced to minimize transpiration since they are in a dry
environment. They contain chlorophylls in the stem and they photosynthesize by the stem.

12. Describe experiments to show that

(i) Sunlight is needed for photosynthesis.

(ii) Starch is present in leaves after photosynthesis.
(iii) Sunlight is needed for photosynthesis.
(iv) CO2 is needed for photosynthesis.
(v) O2 is produced during photosynthesis.
In each of the above experiments you have to state what the control is and why you carry out each
step.