PHOTOSYNTHESIS THE CHEMICAL REACTION

This is learning by enquiry - research your answers. You may work as a group, but everyone needs to
compile a full set of answers.

Firstly a reminder about the basics of photosynthesis:
Q.1 a) What are the raw materials taken in by a photosynthesising green plant, in order to make its
own organic food?
Water, carbon dioxide
b) What else does the plant need from the environment in order to react the raw materials
together?
Nutrients, Sun light.
c) There must be a sort of biological catalyst present in order to enable the combining of the
raw materials. What is his substance?
Chlorophyll
d) The raw materials are reacted together to form which organic compound)
Glucose
e) Photosynthesis produces an important waste product what?
Oxygen
f) Now you should be able to write the word formula for the photosynthesis reaction the raw
materials (reactants or substrates) react together to form products.
Water + Carbon Dioxide Oxygen + Glucose
g) Finally, write the balanced chemical or molecular formula for photosynthesis.
6H
2
O + 6CO
2
C6H12O6 + 6O
2

Now lets look at the raw materials and resources and where they come from. Assume all the
time that we are taking about a rooted, leafy, green plant your answers might be a little different if
we were talking about algae in the oceans.

Q.2 CHLOROPHYLL
a) Green plants actually make their own chlorophyll. Chlorophyll contains one important
mineral ion, which must be absorbed from the soil. What is it?
Magnesium
b) Chlorophyll does not simply hang around inside plant cells, waiting for a bit of sun! The
chlorophyll is found inside tiny organelles in photosynthesising cells. It is inside these
organelles where most of the photosynthesis reaction occurs. What are these organelles
called. Make a simple drawing of one.
Chloroplasts:










c) Very briefly, what do you understand by: i) the light dependent reaction?
A big process in which light turns into chemical energy.
ii) the light independent reaction?
The process in which carbon dioxide and other compounds are converted into glucose

Q.3 CARBON DIOXIDE
a) About what percentage of the earths atmosphere is carbon dioxide?
0.04%
b) Is this percentage rising or falling? Why? What might the effect of the change be on the
rate of photosynthesis? (Be very brief with your answers here.)
This figure is rising because of Global Warming and this means that photosynthesis happens
at a faster rate.

c) Where in plant leaves does the carbon dioxide enter?
The stomata underneath the leaves
d) A green plant will not be absorbing carbon dioxide a full 24 hours a day. It will therefore
not be photosynthesising a full 24 hours. When will the plants not be absorbing carbon
dioxide?
At night time

Q.4 WATER
a) From where do green plants obtain their water?
The soil
b) So, which parts of the plants must the water travel through in
order to reach the leaves, where most of the photosynthesis
takes places? Draw a simple diagram of a plant (root, stem,
leaves) to illustrate the water flow through it.
Through the roots, stem and leaves
c) As you saw in Q.3 d), photosynthesis does not take place a full
24 hours a day. Yet water does come up through the plant a full 24
hours a day. What happens to the excess water? How might you
know this by looking at a plant in the early morning? Very
briefly explain the physics behind this process.
It comes out of the leaves as a waste

Q.5 ENERGY/SUNLIGHT
a) Roughly which wavelengths of light are used for photosynthesis? How do you know this
from a simple observation about green plants?
The red and blue
b) A green plant must be able to maximise
photosynthesis and absorb as much light as
possible. It therefore has packed chloroplasts in the
leaves. But how are the leaves and whole stems
and branches arranged in order to maximise
sunlight absorption? Draw some simple diagrams.
Remember that plants in the tropics and in the
north and/or south latitudes may have different
characteristics.



c) See if you can find some figures for the amount of sunlight absorbed by green plants on the
Earths surface.
The earth absorbs about 48% of the total sunlight that arrives but this includes other things
apart from plants.

Q.6 OXYGEN
a) Plants, like all living organisms, use oxygen all the time. For what reaction?
Respiration
b) But they give off more oxygen while they are photosynthesising. This oxygen accumulates
in the atmosphere. What percentage of the atmosphere is oxygen?
20% because the plants give it out
c) There will probably be two times during 24 hours when the amount of oxygen absorbed
into the plant equals the amount of oxygen generated in photosynthesis. What is the word
used to describe these moments in the day?
d) Why can we say that this point of balance between oxygen consumption and generation
occurs twice during 24 hours?

Q.7 CARBOHYDRATES
Glucose is first formed by all green plants, but this is rapidly converted into other
carbohydrates and organic compounds, which the plant can store or use.
a) What is the principle storage chemical which plants accumulate in their leaves or roots or
even stems?
Glucose
b) Some plants might use the glucose which they make, right away. For which reaction?
Respiration
c) What two other types of chemical compound might the glucose be converted into?
Protein and cellulose
d) What does a green plant use these chemical compounds for?
Growth, healing and cell walls