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Light Intensity: Photosynthesis Lab - Leaf Floating Lab

The document describes a lab experiment to investigate the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis. The hypothesis is that increasing light intensity will increase the rate of photosynthesis, as plants need light for chlorophyll to drive the photosynthesis reactions. The procedure involves using leaf disks, a syringe, water, and a light source to measure the number of bubbles produced under different light intensities from 10 to 50 cm away, with the prediction that more bubbles will be produced with less distance from the light source.

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Tia Szecsody
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289 views2 pages

Light Intensity: Photosynthesis Lab - Leaf Floating Lab

The document describes a lab experiment to investigate the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis. The hypothesis is that increasing light intensity will increase the rate of photosynthesis, as plants need light for chlorophyll to drive the photosynthesis reactions. The procedure involves using leaf disks, a syringe, water, and a light source to measure the number of bubbles produced under different light intensities from 10 to 50 cm away, with the prediction that more bubbles will be produced with less distance from the light source.

Uploaded by

Tia Szecsody
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Photosynthesis Lab - Leaf Floating Lab

Light Intensity

Introduction: ​Light intensity is crucial for photosynthesis, hence if green leaf plants are placed in
a dark environment, photosynthesis will not occur. It is important for the plant to receive enough
light during photosynthesis as without it, it will not occur at the same rate, even when water,
carbon dioxide and a suitable temperature are all given to the plant. For these exact reasons,
light intensity can affect the rate of which photosynthesis occurs.

Purpose: T​ he purpose of this experiment is to investigate effects of light intensity on plants


through the amount of bubbles produced.

Hypothesis: ​If light intensity is increased, the rate of photosynthesis will increase accordingly. As
plants contain chlorophyll; an organelle responsible for absorbing light, the more light given to
the chlorophyll to absorb, the rate of photosynthesis will be able to increase as there is more
light available to drive the reactions of photosynthesis.

Materials:
- Plant
- Water
- Light Source
- Beaker
- Test tube
- Graduated Cylinder
- Stirring rod
- Thermometer
- Timer
- Pencil
- Paper
- Ruler
- Hole punch
- Syringe

Procedure:
1. Prepare the plants leaves by making them into smaller pieces, using a hole puncher.
2. Using the straw or hole punch, cut out 10 circles from your leaves.
3. Set up a light fixture that is suspended about 10 cm above the table.
4. Remove the plunger from the syringe, and remove the cover from the tip, if there is one.
5. Put the leaf disks into the barrel of the syringe, and tap them down to the tip. If you have
a straw, you can poke the discs gently into the barrel using your stirring rod.
6. Replace the plunger into the syringe, being careful not to touch or damage the leaf disks.
7. Plug the tip of the syringe tightly with your finger, and gently pull on the plunger, creating
a slight vacuum.
8. You should see tiny bubbles coming out of the leaf disks. Hold the vacuum for a few
seconds, and then release the plunger, letting it snap back.
9. Pour 500 ml of water into the beaker, then place the erlenmeyer flask into the beaker as
well.
10. Place the test tube given at the top of the flask.
11. Start the timer.
12. Count the number of bubbles created from the plant.
13. Repeat steps 3-10 at 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm and 50 cm distance from the light source.
14. Repeat the experiment a few times to obtain accurate results.

Observations:
Number of bubbles produced
Distance Trial # 1 Trial # 2 Trial # 3 Trial # 4 Trial # 5
(cm) from
light source

10 cm 11 12 11 12 12

20 cm 10 8 9 10 10

30 cm 7 7 8 9 6

40 cm 4 4 5 6 5

50 cm 2 3 5 3 4

References

Anne Marie Helmenstine, P. (2019, May 9). What Chlorophyll Is and Its Role in
Photosynthesis. Retrieved January 08, 2021, from
https://www.thoughtco.com/chlorophyll-definition-role-in-photosynthesis-4117432

Vidyasagar, A. (2018, October 15). What Is Photosynthesis? Retrieved January 08, 2021,
from https://www.livescience.com/51720-photosynthesis.html

Note: The second line should be indented for the references but my computer won’t let me do
that for some reason.

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