You Are The Sunshine in My Life

In this lab you will use a photosynthetic organism to investigate the requirements of an anabolic reaction like photosynthesis. The major site of photosynthesis in any plant is its leaves. Carbon dioxide enters the leafs surface through tiny holes called stomates. Water enters a plant from the roots. Special organelles in leaf cells absorb energy from the sun using primary pigments called chlorophyll. The energy from captured light manipulates water and carbon dioxide to produce biomolecules like glucose. What happens if we prevent the leaves from obtaining any of these substances? Think about this as you complete the following lab.
Procedure: 1. Obtain a Petri dish and label each half either light or dark. 2. Obtain a half of a leaf from a plant that has grown in the absence of light energy, and another that has received plenty of light. (in other words share a leaf from each conditions with another group) Observe any outward differences between the two. 3. Immerse each leaf in boiling water for about one minute (be sure to keep tabs on which leaf is which). Remove your leaves from the boiling water with forceps. 4. Immerse each leaf in a hot ethyl alcohol water bath. This will remove all the pigments (chlorophyll and accessories) from the leaves. 5. When most of the pigment has been removed (the leaves will be very light green, almost white), use forceps to remove them from the hot alcohol. 6. Prevent each leaf from becoming brittle by dipping them back into the hot water used in Step 3 for a few seconds. 7. Place each leaf in the properly labeled Petri dish and cover each leaf with a couple drops of iodine solution. Allow the leaf to sit for a few minutes. 8. Gently rinse each leaf of the iodine solution by dipping them into a beaker of clean water. 9. Compare the staining pattern and colors of each leaf and record in words and drawings what you observe. 10. Be aware that iodine is used to detect the presence of the polymer starch. Do you remember what the monomers of starch are and why that is relevant.

Observations of leaves before treatment

Observations of leaves after treatment

Questions: 1. When the interactions of two or more substances result in the formation of different substances it is called a chemical reaction. These reactions are expressed in the form of an equation. Write the overall equation for photosynthesis using both words and symbols. 2. What can you conclude about the amount of starch that was found in the plant grown in the dark and light. How does this connect to photosynthesis? 3. What do you think would eventually happen to the plants grown in the dark? Be specific. 4. Does this test provide evidence that photosynthesis is anabolic or catabolic? Exogonic or endogonic? Explain. 5. Using your own words, describe what happens in the light cycle of photosynthesis. 6. Using your own words, describe what happens in the light independent reactions (Calvin cycle) of photosynthesis. 7. Assume two humans are provided with the same food, air, and water, but one person lives in an area with little sunlight while the other lives in a sunny climate. Would their growth rates be significantly affected by how much light they get?