How Plants Get Their Food (1)

How do plants get their food ?

74kg soil

73.943kg soil

In the 17th Century, A Belgian physician, van Helmont, set up an experiment in which he planted a willow sapling in a weighed amount of soil. The soil was watered but nothing else was added. After 5 years, the tree had gained 74kg in weight but the soil had lost only 57g. van Helmont concluded that the tree had made 74kg of new growth from water alone

van Helmonts experiment was effective in showing that the plants food did not come from the soil. But he had overlooked the fact that air was available to the plant as well as water. Could it be that the plant made 174kg of material from just air and water? This might seem unlikely but we now know that plants do indeed make their food from carbon dioxide from the air and water from the soil.

Feeding
Animals get their food by eating plants, or other animals
Carnivores eat animals Herbivores eat plants

Plants make their own food

They combine carbon dioxide from the air with water and dissolved salts from the soil Plants do NOT get their food from the soil

The first stage by which plants make food is called PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Animals get their food

by eating plants or ...

... plant products,

or (c) other animals

Plants make their food by photosynthesis

Photosynthesis
Green plants take in carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air They take up water (H2O) from the soil The plants combine the CO2 with the H2O to make the sugar, glucose (C6H12O6) 6CO2 + 6H2O = C6H12O6 + 6O2 Oxygen (O2) is a by-product of this reaction

7 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 C6H12O6 + 6O2 H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O H2O

6 molecules of carbon dioxide combine with 6 molecules of water to make one molecule of glucose and 6 molecules of oxygen

Energy
It takes energy to make CO2 combine with H2O This energy comes from sunlight The energy is absorbed and used by a substance called chlorophyll

carbon dioxide

sunlight (energy)

water

water

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Chlorophyll
Chlorophyll is a green coloured chemical It is present in the leaves of green plants The chlorophyll in the cells is packaged into tiny structures called chloroplasts The next slide shows a diagram of leaf cells with their chloroplasts

Leaf cells with chloroplasts

cell wall

11

chloroplast

nucleus

cytoplasm

vacuole

All the reactions to combine CO2 and H2O take place in the chloroplast sunlight
palisade cell of leaf

12

water
in the chloroplast, carbon dioxide and water combine to make sugar

carbon dioxide

epidermis

13

palisade cell ( photosynthesis)

Cell structure of a leaf

The palisade cells are in the uppermost layers of the leaf

vessel (carries water)

stoma (admits air)

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Carbohydrates
Glucose is one example of a carbohydrate Other examples are starch, sucrose and cellulose (in cell walls) Carbohydrate molecules contain the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen Living organisms can easily change one carbohydrate into another

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What happens to the glucose?

The glucose made by the chloroplast is either (a) used to provide energy for the chemical processes in the cell ( by respiration) (b)turned into sucrose and transported to other parts of the plant or (c) turned into starch and stored in the cell as starch grains In darkness the starch is changed back into glucose and transported out of the cell

How Plants Get Their Food (2) (2) How plants get their food

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Other Food
Glucose and starch are carbohydrates Carbohydrates can be oxidised during respiration to produce energy Plants need more than carbohydrates They need proteins for making new cytoplasm and cells for growth To make proteins plants combine glucose with compounds of nitrogen, (nitrates)

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energy e.g. seed germination

other sugars

fruits

GLUCOSE
starch

protein

cytoplasm cellulose

storage e.g. starch in potato

cell walls

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Nitrates
Nitrates are present in the soil, dissolved in water The plants take up nitrates in the soil water The nitrates are conducted through the roots to the stem and then to the leaves In the leaves, the nitrates and glucose are combined to make proteins This process is called assimilation

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Mineral salts
Nitrates are not the only salts that plants need to take in from the soil They need phosphates, sulphates, iron, potassium and magnesium salts This is the reason why farmers and gardeners add fertiliser to the soil These fertilisers usually contain nitrates, phosphates and potassium (NPK)

Effects of fertilisers

21

These are experimental strips of wheat. Varying amounts and types of fertiliser have been added to the soil to see which give the best plant growth

Average yearly wheat yields from experimental plots

3000

22

Chemical fertilizer
2500

Farmyard manure

No magnesium No phosphate

Kg per hectare

2000

1500

1000

No manure

No nitrate

500

23 TO SUM UP

Plants combine carbon dioxide from the air, and water from the soil to make glucose. The energy needed for this process comes from sunlight The sunlight is absorbed by chlorophyll contained in the chloroplasts of the leaf. The glucose can be used for energy or to make other substances. To make other substances, the glucose must be combined with other chemical elements such as nitrogen and potassium. These chemical elements are present in the soil and are taken up in solution by the roots.

QUESTIONS
In the questions which follow, choose the best answer from the four alternatives

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Question 1
For a plant to make glucose it needs (a) CO2 and H2O (b) CO2, H2O and sunlight (c) CO2, H2O, sunlight and chlorophyll (d) CO2, H2O, sunlight, chlorophyll and nitrates

25

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Question 2
A by-product of photosynthesis is (a) Water vapour (b) Oxygen (c) Carbon dioxide (d) Nitrogen

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Question 3
The plant needs to take in nitrates in order to make (a) Protein (b) Cellulose (c) Starch (d) Sugars

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Question 4
Chlorophyll is present only in (a) The cytoplasm (b) The vacuole (c) The cell wall (d) The chloroplasts

Question 5
The food made by photosynthesis is transported round the plant in the form of (a) Glucose (b) Sucrose (c) Starch (e) Cytoplasm

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Question 6
Which mineral salt is needed for making protein? (a) Magnesium salt (b) Sulphates (c) Phosphates (d) Nitrates

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Answer (1)

Incorrect

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Answer (2)

Correct