Lab Report: Understanding Photosynthesis
Gen Biology Lab
Abstract: This lab was called photosynthesis: understanding photosynthesis. It is a highly complex process that needs to be broken down in many steps to understand how it works. This lab covers the big components in photosynthesis including carbon dioxide intake, light consumption, and varying pigmentation.
Introduction:
Photosynthesis is a huge concept to learn and understand in the field of biology. Plants have their own special way of using the ATP they produce. Photosynthesis is a process where plants harness the sunlight they receive and they produce carbohydrates, as well as oxygen for living things and other plants. Now the sunlight ultimately powers the process of
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First we obtained a leaf from our instructor. Then we sketched the leaf and labeled the blade and petiole. The following procedure dealt with a chromatogram. The materials needed are: a pencil, safety goggles, scissors, chromatography paper strip, capillary tube, spinach plant pigment extract, test tube, cork stopper, graduated cylinder, chromatography solvent (alternative isopropyl alcohol), metric ruler, stopwatch or clock with a secondhand, hook/fashioned paperclip, paper towels, test tube rack, and mortar and pestle. First we obtained a strip of chromatography paper and cut it so it would fit inside a test tube (with it barely touching the bottom of the tube). Also, when touching the strip, touch the sides only. Then we attached (firmly) the top of the strip to a hook (or fashioned paperclip at bottom of the cork stopper). Make sure it fits in the test tube. Next we used the pencil to draw a faint line across the strip two centimeters from the bottom tip of the strip. We placed the cork and strip in place, and we put a mark on the test tube one centimeter below the top of the stopper. The next step was to place the strip of chromatography paper on a paper towel. Then dip a capillary tube into the plant pigment extract (spinach pigment extract) provided by the teacher. The tube will fill on its own. We applied the extract to the pencil line on the paper, blew the strip dry, and repeated it three to four times until the line on the paper is a dark
7. Tape the strip to a pencil and rest the pencil on top of the jar so that the strip hangs into the jar. The goal is to have the end of the chromatography strip just touching the surface of the solvent solution, with the colored dots above the surface of the liquid. Make sure that the colored spots do not come in direct contact with the liquid in the bottom of the glass.
Photosynthesis is the process in which plants consumed inorganic materials like solar light, carbon dioxide and water and converted it to an organic molecule like sugar and an inorganic gas like oxygen. Light is one of the major elements influencing the rate of photosynthesis; direct light concentration affects the noncyclic pathway (light
If you put too much of a sample on your chromatography paper, you could possibly have that color bleed into the color next to it, which would mess up your results. If you put too little of a sample on the paper, your color
Photosynthesis is a vital process that requires to utilize energy for plants. This experiment was done to evaluate the effects of carbon availability on photosynthetic activity. The aquatic plant Elodea densa was placed into sodium bicarbonate solutions of five concentrations ranging from 0.1% to 1.0%, in five independent trials (excluding the negative control treatment of water). The temperature and light intensity was constant. The results indicated a directly proportional relationship between the availability of carbon dioxide and the rate of photosynthesis of Elodea Densa, as photosynthesis continued to increase with increasing amounts of bicarbonate. The most O2 amount of oxygen produced was with the 0.7% NaHCO3 concentration and least with the control of water. The null hypothesis that stated carbon concentration does not affect rate of photosynthesis of the aquatic plant was rejected. The predicted hypothesis that an increase in bicarbonate concentrations results in an increase in the photosynthetic rate was accepted. In conclusion, there is a significant increase in photosynthetic activity as the concentration of NaHCO3 increases.
Pigments extracted from different greens have different polarities and may be different colors. Mixed pigments can be separated using chromatography paper. Chromatography paper is able to separate mixed pigments due to their polarity and solubility. Pigments of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and beta carotene will be separated on chromatography paper because each has its own polarity and solubility, which results in different distance traveled up the paper. Beta carotene is non-polar so it travels the highest distance, followed by chlorophyll a. Chlorophyll b is the most polar; therefore, it travels the shortest distance. The separated pigments on the chromatography paper can be eluted in acetone and absorbance spectrum is
My hypothesis was correct. To measure the amount of carbon dioxide or CO2 in an exhaled breath, you need to use BTB solution and sodium hydroxide. In our procedure, the BTB reacted to the carbon dioxide and the sodium hydroxide reverses the reaction which allowed us to measure how much carbon dioxide is in our exhaled breath. As seen in the data, it took 5 drops of sodium hydroxide to get the BTB solution that had carbon dioxide blew into it to be the same color of the controlled BTB solution.
After wearing the gloves we obtained a chromatography vial from professor and label it with my and my peer initials. We dried up the chromatography vial in fume hood and added 1 ml of chromatography solvent to the vial. Then we took a chromatography strip and measure it 1.5 cm with ruler from one end of the strip and drew a line with pencil we cut two small pieces below the pencil line to form a pointed end. We applied spinach on the strip using quarter to rub the spinach leaf on the line that we drew on the strip and put it into the chromatography vial and placed that in fume hood. We observed as the solvent was moving up the chromatography strip by capillary action. When the solvent was reached approximately 1 cm from the top of the strip then we removed the cap from the vial. We took out the strip from the vial using forceps and marked up the location of the solvent front because it evaporates quickly. We measure out the distance as well as the pigment in order to find out the rf value. Moreover we compared rf values to the one in reference list in order to identify the
The learning objective that students were the most successful with was: I can describe the process of photosynthesis. Two possible reasons for this success was we spent a lot of time reviewing plants and how they get their food. We also did a virtual lab that involved Elodea plants and students were able to see the relationship between plants and animals. Students also got extensive review practice in the area of photosynthesis. I also think the concepts involved in photosynthesis were a bit easier to master than those of cellular respiration. The work samples reflect that students had an easier time with photosynthesis and students received more practice in this area.
4 different scientists kept adding to photosynthesis photosynthesis didn’t start off as the process we know
The purpose of this lab is to determine which pigments in a plant support or effect photosynthesis, based on starch production, which wavelengths of light are involved in photosynthesis, and identify plant pigments found in a plant leaf by means of paper chromatography.
Photosynthesis is a vital process that autotrophs use to transfer light energy into chemical energy. Photosynthesis ultimately produces O2 and glucose. It, like many other biological processes, can be affected by environmental variables. The variable that we altered in the following experiment are intensity, light wavelengths, and pigment types. In order to do this, we conducted three experiments. In the first experiment, we examined the effect of light intensity by placing vials with chloroplasts with DPIP at different light distances in which the results varied. Initially, 30cm away was the most effective for photosynthesis. Then 24cm appeared to be the most effective. Followed by 49cm at minutes 25 and 30. In the second experiment, we
Photosynthesis is a reproductive system that occurs in plants. The main components required for photosynthesizing are sunlight, energy, water and mineral from soil, and carbon dioxide from the air. Once these components are combined they
Photosynthesis is an oxidation-reduction process powered by light in order to create energy for the cell. Plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria (Kingdom Protista) use light energy to synthesize organic compounds (Whitmarsh and Govindjee). The chemical equation for photosynthesis looks relatively simple, however, is truly complicated because the cell has to use over 30 different proteins to synthesize organic compounds within the cell. Photosynthesis is represented by the chemical equation, 6CO2 + 6H2O + light → C6H12O6 + 6O2. The equation shows that carbon dioxide, water, and light react to form glucose (a carbohydrate) and oxygen. Each year, photosynthesis is responsible for ten percent of the atmospheric carbon dioxide on earth being reduced to form glucose (Whitmarsh and Govindjee). Photosynthesis is essential for the life of the cell because it provides energy for the cell to do all of its biological needs. Photosynthesis is also really important for other living organisms, including humans, because the waste product of photosynthesis is oxygen, which is essential for life of most living things. Photosynthesis creates two compounds, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and nicotinamide adenine di-nucleotide phosphate hydrogen (NADPH). ATP and NADPH are the “energy currency” of the cell (Whitmarsh and Govindjee). Photosynthesis occurs in two main processes, the light dependent reactions, and the dark reactions.
Photosynthesis is a biochemical process in which plant, algae, and some bacteria harness the energy of light to produce food. Nearly all living things depend on energy produced from photosynthesis for their nourishment, making it vital to life on Earth. It is also responsible for producing the oxygen that makes up a large portion of the Earth¡¦s atmosphere. Factors that affect photosynthesis are light intensity and wave length, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature.
The reason I have decided to write specifically about photosynthesis is because it seems almost like magic on how plants manage to take something that can’t be touched or felt, into something that is as a necessity as energy for our bodies to functions. This is a very important process that allows life on planets to form and be sustained. The only thing is that it is not magic on how it is done and I would like to examine specifically how the process unfolds and its interactions with chemistry.