How Light Energy Affects Photosynthesis
There are many variables that could affect the rate of photosynthesis and the net consumption of carbon dioxide. In this experiment, the effects of how the intensity of light energy affected photosynthesis were observed. Two pieces of elodea was placed into separate beakers and one of the beakers was placed under a bulb of lower intensity and the other beaker being placed under a higher intensity bulb. The results showed that the beaker under the higher intensity light energy had a higher consumption of carbon dioxide when compared to the beaker that was under the bulb of lower intensity. An addition variable that was not recognized, was that the higher intensity bulb had also radiated a higher heat of energy which have may have assisted in
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the higher rate of carbon dioxide consumption.
Introduction
Essentially, photosynthesis is a vital and mandatory process for nearly all biology aspects on Earth.
Simply, photosynthesis is a process that occurs in plants and some bacteria where light energy and other substances like carbon dioxide react with one another to produce a form of energy, while at the same time releasing oxygen. The relationships between living biological systems and plants that produce oxygen have a relationship similar to mutualism. Living organisms release carbon dioxide which is required for plants to process photosynthesis, and in return oxygen is produced (Sutherland 2015). Without photosynthesis, there would be a dramatically decrease in the amount of oxygen present. After all, photosynthesis is one of the dominant sources for oxygen.
The process of photosynthesis is actually very complex at the cellular level. Two common details about photosynthesis are that it produces sugar and oxygen. A study by Grondellea and Novoderezkinb (2011) showed that there are two regions where the process of photosynthesis occur called the photosystem I and photosystem II. In the photosystem I, light energy along with NADPH and ATP is used to produce sugar. While in photosystem II, oxygen is produced when negative charged subatomic particles are dissociated from water by the use of light energy (Grondellea and Novoderezhkinb
2011).
The objective of this research was to find out what effects are there on photosynthesis if the source of light energy was modified. It was noted that the higher intensity of the light source would result in a higher consumption of carbon dioxide when compared to the plant under a lower intensity of light source.
Methods
A 150ml beaker filled with deionized water (diH2O) was assimilated with carbon dioxide by a person blowing air into a beaker through a straw. Then the water was separated and split into three equal 50ml beakers. Each of the beaker being labeled corresponding to their purpose in the experiment. For example, one beaker was labeled “control” while the other two beakers were labeled “normal” and “customized.” Which the normal label being a beaker containing elodea under a 60 watt bulb and the customized beaker being a beaker containing elodea under a 120 watt bulb.
After that, two pieces of elodea was taken out of the tank, relatively weighing both 1.8 grams each. To get the experiment to be as accurate as possible, the elodea was blotted by paper towels to discard any of the unwanted liquid that could possible affect the experiment. From there, one elodea was placed in the normal beaker and the other in the customized beaker. The normal beaker was placed under a 60 watt bulb, while the customized beaker was placed under a 120 watt bulb. These two beakers were placed under the bulb for a time of an hour and relatively 30 centimeters away from the bulb.
When the hour had passed, the fragments of elodea were put back into the tank where they had come from. If they were submerged in chemicals, which they weren’t in this experiment, they would have been placed back into the tank specifically for elodea submerged in chemicals. From there, phenolphthalein was added to each beaker in order to indicate the pH level of each beaker. While stirring, drops of sodium hydroxide was added to each beaker until a shade of pink color had remain unchanging. As the final method of this experiment, the carbon dioxide consumption was determined based on the number of sodium hydroxide dropped (Walsh and Wostl 2015).
the higher rate of carbon dioxide consumption.
Introduction
Essentially, photosynthesis is a vital and mandatory process for nearly all biology aspects on Earth.
Simply, photosynthesis is a process that occurs in plants and some bacteria where light energy and other substances like carbon dioxide react with one another to produce a form of energy, while at the same time releasing oxygen. The relationships between living biological systems and plants that produce oxygen have a relationship similar to mutualism. Living organisms release carbon dioxide which is required for plants to process photosynthesis, and in return oxygen is produced (Sutherland 2015). Without photosynthesis, there would be a dramatically decrease in the amount of oxygen present. After all, photosynthesis is one of the dominant sources for oxygen.
The process of photosynthesis is actually very complex at the cellular level. Two common details about photosynthesis are that it produces sugar and oxygen. A study by Grondellea and Novoderezkinb (2011) showed that there are two regions where the process of photosynthesis occur called the photosystem I and photosystem II. In the photosystem I, light energy along with NADPH and ATP is used to produce sugar. While in photosystem II, oxygen is produced when negative charged subatomic particles are dissociated from water by the use of light energy (Grondellea and Novoderezhkinb
2011).
The objective of this research was to find out what effects are there on photosynthesis if the source of light energy was modified. It was noted that the higher intensity of the light source would result in a higher consumption of carbon dioxide when compared to the plant under a lower intensity of light source.
Methods
A 150ml beaker filled with deionized water (diH2O) was assimilated with carbon dioxide by a person blowing air into a beaker through a straw. Then the water was separated and split into three equal 50ml beakers. Each of the beaker being labeled corresponding to their purpose in the experiment. For example, one beaker was labeled “control” while the other two beakers were labeled “normal” and “customized.” Which the normal label being a beaker containing elodea under a 60 watt bulb and the customized beaker being a beaker containing elodea under a 120 watt bulb.
After that, two pieces of elodea was taken out of the tank, relatively weighing both 1.8 grams each. To get the experiment to be as accurate as possible, the elodea was blotted by paper towels to discard any of the unwanted liquid that could possible affect the experiment. From there, one elodea was placed in the normal beaker and the other in the customized beaker. The normal beaker was placed under a 60 watt bulb, while the customized beaker was placed under a 120 watt bulb. These two beakers were placed under the bulb for a time of an hour and relatively 30 centimeters away from the bulb.
When the hour had passed, the fragments of elodea were put back into the tank where they had come from. If they were submerged in chemicals, which they weren’t in this experiment, they would have been placed back into the tank specifically for elodea submerged in chemicals. From there, phenolphthalein was added to each beaker in order to indicate the pH level of each beaker. While stirring, drops of sodium hydroxide was added to each beaker until a shade of pink color had remain unchanging. As the final method of this experiment, the carbon dioxide consumption was determined based on the number of sodium hydroxide dropped (Walsh and Wostl 2015).