Carbon Dioxide Experiment in Photosynthesis

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Without carbon dioxide plants cannot photosynthesize. Through reading various books and web pages it was made clear that carbon dioxide is definitely one of the raw materials needed for photosynthesis, but I wanted to see whether this is actually true and if carbon dioxide is taken away completely will the plant photosynthesize at all? By taking a two plants of the exact same species, de-starching them both followed by putting plant one in conditions where carbon dioxide is taken away completely, and plant two will then be put in conditions where carbon dioxide is added, after a day or two in these conditions leaves from both plants will be tested for starch, if the leaf tests positive for starch it means that the plant has photosynthesized, if the leaf tests negatively for starch it means that the plant has not photosynthesized at all. The aim of my experiment is to see whether carbon dioxide is really necessary for photosynthesis, and to see if a plant can photosynthesize at all with no carbon dioxide present in its environment even when it is still exposed to all the other factors that are too needed for photosynthesis.

Review of literature

1. About.com: photosynthesis by Regina Bailey

 Carbon dioxide, water and sunlight are used to produce glucose, oxygen and water. The chemical process is: 6 molecules of carbon dioxide + 12 molecules of water + light = glucose + 6 molecules of oxygen + 6 molecules of water.

 Carbon dioxide is taken in through the stomata in the leaves of the plant.

2. Yahoo. Answers: How does carbon dioxide affect the rate of photosynthesis? By Hareez

 “As carbon dioxide concentration increases, the rate of photosynthesis increases.”

 If concentrations of carbon dioxide are high, photosynthes...

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... photosynthesize. Without the vital factors of; carbon dioxide, water, sunlight and chlorophyll, plants would not be able to photosynthesize and therefore would not be able to produce their own food and thus would die. Without plants there would be no life on earth as basically all animals are directly or indirectly reliant on plants for their food as they are not able to produce their own food like plants. It is therefore crucial that plants get all these factors that they need in order to photosynthesize because, they are so important for the well being of the whole world, not only for food but also giving us the oxygen we need to breathe and stay alive, as they let off oxygen as a bi-product. To further improve this experiment one could test how the amount of carbon dioxide influences the rate of photosynthesis and therefore the speed at which a plant can grow.

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