As mentioned earlier, the rate of photosynthesis should increase when you give the plant more light, more carbon dioxide and the optimum temperature. However, at high light and high carbon dioxide, photosynthesis will reach its maximum rate and won’t go any higher.
For more details, check this page on photosynthesis: http://click4biology.info/c4b/3/Chem3.8.htm
(I will eventually get around to [...]
What to Measure?
Now, how would you measure the rate of photosynthesis?
Again, let’s look at the equation for photosynthesis:
CO2 + H2O + light –> O2 + glucose
There are 2 things we can quickly measure in this experiment (the dependent variables): amount of oxygen produced, or, amount of carbon dioxide used.
If the rate of photosynthesis increases, the [...]
A commonly-used plant for such experiments is the Elodea, an aquatic (underwater) plant also referred to as pondweed. You can buy this at aquarium stores.
The set up depends on which question you would like to study.
In general, the plant is placed in a test tube filled with diluted sodium bicarbonate solution (1%). Sodium bicarbonate (baking [...]
Here are some ideas for planning experiments for studying plant photosynthesis.
Remember that the simple equation for photosynthesis is:
CO2 + H2O + light –> O2 + glucose
There are many questions you can ask about photosynthesis, such as:
Does light intensity affect the rate of photosynthesis?
Does temperature affect the rate?
What about levels of carbon dioxide made available to [...]
Test for oxygen :
Gas collected is able to relight a glowing splint (light a wooden splint, blow it out and then insert it quickly into the gas chamber)
Test for carbon dioxide :
Bubbling carbon dioxide through lime water (calcium hydroxide) makes it cloudy due to solid precipitates of calcium carbonate.
Ca(OH)2 (aq) + CO2 (g) –> [...]
