Photosynthesis Lab
Exercise 7 – Plant Physiology- Hormonal Effects
Exercise 8 – Plant Nutrition
Exercise 9 – Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Page 69
•Photosynthesis is a process that converts carbon
dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars,
using the energy from sunlight.
•12H2O + 6CO2 + Light Energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O
•What is C6H12O6?
•It is glucose
•Photosynthesis in plants occurs in the chloroplasts of
the leaves. Chloroplasts are organelles found in plant
cells.
•Chloroplasts contain what pigments?
•Chlorophyll A - reflect green
•Chlorophyll B - reflect green
•Carotenoids – reflect orange/red/yellow)
•Sunlight contains visible and invisible light
•Invisible – ultraviolet and infrared
•Visible – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
Indigo, Violet
•ROYGBIV
•Plants must have red or blue wavelengths for
photosynthesis
Plant Physiology –
Hormonal Effects
Page 57
•Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that occur in
living organisms to maintain life.
•Enzymes and hormones help regulate metabolism. Enzymes
speed up the chemical reactions of metabolism. Hormones
have a specific purpose such as initiating flowering, causing a
plant to grow, or causing a plant to stop growing.
•Gibberellic acid is a growth-regulating hormone.
•In the experiment today, your wild plant makes its own
gibberellic acid but the rosette plant does not
Plant Nutrition
Page 61
•To complete photosynthesis, plants need large amounts
of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
•They also need other elements for growth and
reproduction
•Macronutrients – elements that plants need in large
quantity
• Nitrogen (N)
•Phosphorus (P)
•Potassium (K)
•Sulfur (S)
•Calcium (Ca)
•Magnesium (Mg)
•Micronutrients – elements that plants need in smaller
amounts
Exercise 9
Photosynthesis Experiment
Page 71
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Remove plungers from your 5 syringes
With a straw, punch 50 discs from plants ONE at a time and avoid the veins
Put 10 discs in each of your syringes, tap until the fall down to the tip
Replace the plunger but do not touch the leaves
Fill syringe with 8-9ml of sodium bicarbonate solution from the beaker
Turn the syringe so the tip is facing the ceiling, the leaves should be floating
Carefully press the plunger to remove the air
Put your finger over the tip of the syringe and pull back carefully on the plunger.
This will create a vacuum. (DO NOT pull the plunger out)
Remove your finger and release plunger at the same time.
Repeat 8-9 until all of your leaves are no longer floating.
Once your leaves sink……
Cover three syringes with a green, blue, and red filter
Cover one syringe with aluminum foil, this is your negative control
Do not cover the last syringe, it is your positive control
Set your syringes in the test tube holder tip up and place in
front of the fish bowl with the light behind the fish bowl.
Every 1 minute 30 seconds, turn syringe tip down
toward the floor, then back up to the ceiling, at the
2 minute mark, count how many discs have floated to
the top. Record this in Table 11.2
Exercise 7
Hormone Test
Page 58
1. For each table, get one container of wild plants and one container
of rosette plants. Each container will have 2 plants so you will have
a total of 4 plants. Write the container # on page 58 in the tiny table
on the right.
2. On the popsicle sticks, label one wild plant “A” and one wild plant
“B” and label one Rosette plant “A” and one Rosette plant “B”
3. On each popsicle stick, write your group # - for group 1, write “G1”
4. On each popsicle stick, write your section letter
• Monday “D” Tuesday “H” Wednesday “L” Thursday “Q”
5. Measure and record the height of the wild plants in Table 8.1 in the
row for “Height week 1 (cm). Make sure to put “A” height under
column “A” and “B” height under column “B”
6. Measure and record the height of the Rosettes in Table 8.2 in the
row for “Height week 1 (cm). Make sure to put “A” height under
column “A” and “B” height under column “B”
7. Add one drop of water per leaf to wild plant “A” and Rosette “A”
8. Add one drop of Gibberellic acid per leaf to wild plant “B” and
Rosette “B”
9. Put the plants back in the part of the tray corresponding to their #
Exercise 8
Plant Nutrition Experiment
Page 63
1. Get 3 cups and 3 foam plugs (A,B,C)
2. Label cups A, B, C
3. Label cups with Group # (G1, G2, G3, etc) and section
Monday “D” Tuesday “H” Wednesday “L” Thursday “Q”
4. Label the cups with your solutions for A, B, C. See chart on cabinet doors
5. CAREFULLY get 6 sunflower plants, rinse the roots off
6. Decide which plants will be A, A1, B, B1, C and C1. Measure the stem length
(cm) and root length (cm) of each plant and write that in table 9.1A
7. Look at the plants, note the appearance of the plant in table 9.1A. Note the
color, number of leaves, stem color, root condition, etc
8. Place 2 plants into each foam plug. Adjust so only roots are sticking out of
the bottom of the foam plug.
9. See page 63 diagram BEFORE continuing to next step.
10. Fill each cup with the solution for your group, leaving 1”
between bottom of foam and solution.
11. Place foam plugs with plant into the appropriate cup.
Make sure the roots are in the solution but the foam is NOT.
12. Place the cups under your designated light source.
If the foam gets wet, your stem will rot!!!!!