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How Does Light Intensity Affect The Rate Of Photosynthesis

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The Effect of the Light Intensity on the Rate of Photosynthesis
Introduction:
There are many factors that effect the rate of photosynthesis in plants. Some of the factors that impact photosynthesis is temperature, amount of sodium bicarbonate, water temperature, the size of the plant that undergoes photosynthesis, and light intensity. This lab will concern light intensity. The lab will address the outcome of having a really high light intensity compared to a really low light intensity during photosynthesis. Light intensity is defined as the amount of energy hitting an area, or the amount of light an object receives. In this experiment, the object will be baby spinach leaf chads. there will be two light sources in this lab. The light …show more content…

Lumens are used to measure light intensity, so the higher number of lumens means the higher the intensity will be. The leaf chads will be placed in bicarbonate water, 10 in each beaker. There will be a total of two beakers. Both of the beakers should be placed the same distance from the light source that they are assigned to for more accurate results. The objective of this lab is to compare the rate of photosynthesis in the leaf chads by looking at the amount of light intensity. The leaf chads that are placed under the light source labeled (b) will have a greater rate of photosynthesis compared to the leaf chads that are placed beneath light source (a) because that leaf chads under light source (b) will receive more photons (energy packers) to carry out photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, the energy of light captured by pigment molecules, called chlorophyll, in chloroplasts is used to generate high-energy electrons with great reducing potential. In electrons are used to produce NADPH as well as ATP in a series of reactions called the light reactions because they require light. That is why light intensity plays a really important …show more content…

Place 10 leaf disks into the syringe and pull in a small volume of the bicarbonate solution. Replace the plunger and push out most of the air, but do not crush the leaves.
Create a vacuum by covering the tip of the syringe with your finger. Draw back on the plunger. Release the vacuum so that the solution will enter the chads. It might take a few times to get the disks to sink. You may need to lightly tap the syringe to dislodge the chads from the sides. Once they have sank, put them back into the bicarbonate solution and place the chads under the light source that measures 450 lumens. Start a timer and record how many of the chads are floating at 1 minute intervals.
Repeat steps 2-5 for the other 10 leaf chads, but place them under the light source that has the measure of 800 lumens.
Materials:
2 beaker half filled with Bicarbonate solution
Baby spinach
800 lumen

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