If you were to take the original discs that were in the ligh

If you were to take the original discs that were in the light and floating and place that beaker in the dark , what do you think would happen to the discs? what process is occurring?

Solution

Ans: Photosynthesis is a process that converts carbon dioxide into sugars such as glucose using energy from the sun. When light is absorbed by pigments in a leaf, the energy absorbed is used to incorporate the carbon dioxide into organic molecules in a process called carbon fixation. The process of photosynthesis can be expressed by the following word equation and chemical equation.

Carbon dioxide + Water ->->Glucose + Oxygen

6 CO2 + 6 H2O ->->C6H12O6 + 6 O2

Leaf disks normally float, however when the air spaces are infiltrated with carbon dioxide, the overall density of the lead disk increases and the leaf disk sinks. As photosynthesis proceeds, oxygen is released into the interior of the leaf, which changes its buoyancy causing the disk to rise. Since cellular respiration is taking place at the same time in the leaf, the oxygen generated by photosynthesis is consumed. As a result, the rate that the disks rise is indirectly proportional to the net rate of photosynthesis. The purpose of this experiment is to observe the effect of photosynthesis under different environmental condition.