Introduction to

Photosynthesis

IGCSE Biology
 How do plants get their energy?
• We get our energy by eating other organisms

• But plants don´t eat tacos!!

 Nutrition
• Taking in the materials that
are needed for energy,
growth and development.
• Plants make their own food
by photosynthesis
• Animals cannot make
carbohydrates, fats,
proteins or DNA and have
to take them in as nutrients
 Organic and Inorganic substances
• Organic substances – have been made by
plants e.g: glucose, sucrose
cellulose and starch

• Inorganic substances – carbon dioxide, water

and minerals- from air and soil.
 Chlorophyll
• Chlorophyll is a pigment found in
the chloroplasts of leaves and some
stems
• Chlorophyll captures energy from
sunlight and transfers the energy to
carbon dioxide and water
molecules, which react and are
converted to glucose A chloroplast
What is photosynthesis?

• Photosynthesis is the chemical change which happens in the

chloroplasts in the leaves of plants
• It is the first step towards making food, not just for plants,
but also for every animal on Earth
• During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide from the air and
water from the soil combine in the chloroplasts to make
glucose and oxygen.
• The reaction requires light energy, which is absorbed by
chlorophyll pigments in the chloroplasts.
Equations: word and chemical
 Plants can make their own food!
• The process of photosynthesis
Raw Materials Equipment Products

Water Sunlight Glucose (sugar)

Where does it come Where is this made?

from? ______________ __________________
Does it stay there all the
Where does it need to time?
go? ________________ __________________

Carbon dioxide Chloroplasts containing Oxygen

chlorophyll
Where does it come How does this escape
from? Where are these found? from the plant?
_________________ ___________________ __________________
How does the plant take
it up? _______________
 Plants convert glucose to sucrose and starch

Glucose is a reactive molecule so plants either

• Convert it into sucrose for transport elsewhere
in the plant

OR

Convert into starch and store it so they can use it

later
 Other substances plants need
• Plants need magnesium ions from the soi to
make chlorophyll
• Plants need nitrates from the soil to make
amino acids and proteins for growth
Too few magnesium ions
result in yellow leaves

Too few nitrate ions

result in poor growth
 Plants’ uses of plant glucose
Raw material for Used immediately to
growth, repair and provide energy source for
replacement of respiration
damaged parts
Energy used to turn
sugars, nitrates &
To make fats & oils
other nutrients into
(energy stored in
amino acids which
seeds)
To make nectar for build up proteins
bees for pollination Glucose
Energy is also used
Energy stored as
to move mineral
sucrose (in fruit)
ions into root hair
cells by active
Energy stored as transport
starch (in leaves, To make cellulose, the
seeds, roots and tubers) main structural material
in cell walls
 Think, pair, share: From little acorns do
great oaks grow…
• An oak tree is planted in a meadow.
• After 20 years it has grown into a big tree, weighing 250kg
more than when it was planted.

• Where do the extra

250kg come from?

• Explain your answer as

fully and scientifically
as you can.
 Check your understanding
• Answer questions 6, 7 and 8 on pages 102 and
103
The external structure of a leaf

Copy this
diagram into
your notebook
Internal structure of a leaf
 Practical: observing a cross section of a leaf
under the microscope
• You are provided with a light microscope and a
cross section of a leaf
• Focus on the microscope slide on low power
• Compare what you see with Fig. 6.13 on page
105
 Copy Fig. 6.11 page 104

• Use your rules of biological drawing. For 4

marks:
• Make a large drawing
• Use a sharp pencil
• Close all outlines and don’t feather your lines
• Draw label lines with a ruler
 Adaptations of leaves for photosynthesis
• Leaves are thin so carbon dioxide can easily diffuse to all cells
inside the leaf
• The epidermis is made of transparent, tightly packed cells which
don’t contain chloroplasts
• The waxy cuticle on the upper surface is waterproof and
transparent so sunlight easily passes through
• The palisade mesophyll cells are near the upper surface and are
packed with chloroplasts containing chlorophyll
• The spongy mesophyll cells are surrounded by air spaces which
allows diffusion of CO2, O2 and water vapour
• The vascular bundles contain xylem vessels which carry water
and minerals from the roots to the leaves and phloem tubes
which carry sucrose around the plant.
 Factors affecting photosynthesis
• Concentration of carbon dioxide
• Adequate supply of water
• The intensity of sunlight
• The temperature (affects kinetic
energy of enzymes in the cells)
• Concentration of chlorophyll
 Practical: Testing leaves for starch
• Drop freshly picked leaves from a plant in
the sun into a beaker of boiling water for 30
seconds
• Remove the leaf and drop it into a test tube
of ethanol/alcohol
• Place the test tube in the beaker of hot
water and wait until all the chlorophyll has
come out
• Remove the leaf which will be very brittle
and dip it into the hot water again to soften
it
• Spread the leaf on a white tile and add a few
drops of iodine solution. The blue-black
areas show the presence of starch
 Controls
• When we do experiments to find out which factors
are needed for photosynthesis we always need a
control
• In photosynthesis, the control is a plant that has all
the substances it needs
• It is used to compare its results to the results of the
experimental plant which is lacking one of the
substances
• Example: testing if light is necessary for
photosynthesis
 Practical: Investigating the need for
chlorophyll for photosynthesis
• Read through experimental skills 6.2 page 108
 De-starching plants
• We use the presence of starch in leaves to prove
that photosynthesis has happened.
• If we want to test whether a factor affects
photosyntheis or not, we have to start with a plant
that has been de-starched.
• To do this, we leave a plant in a dark cupboard for
at least 24 hours
• The plant cannot do photosynthesis because there
is no light so the plant uses up all the starch that is
stored in the leaves
Practical: Investigating the need for light for
photosynthesis
• Read through experimental skills 6.3 page 109
 Practical: Investigating the effect of light
intensity on photosynthesis
• Read through experimental skills 6.5 page 111
• Draw the apparatus you will use:

We add sodium
hydrogen carbonate
solution to provide a
source of carbon dioxide
 Draw the following table into your
notebook and record your results
Distance
of lamp Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Mean
from 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
plant/cm
Nº of bubbles per minute

0
10
20
30
40
50
 Practical: Investigating the effect of light and
darkness on gas exchange in an aquatic plant
• Read through experimental skills 6.7 page 114
• Label the specimen tubes with your group’s initials
• Add 5cm3 of hydrogen carbonate indicator to 2 specimen tubes
• Place a 2cm length of aquatic plant into each of the specimen
tubes
• Place one specimen tube in the light
• Place one specimen tube in a dark cupboard
• A third specimen tube with 5cm3 only and no plant is the
control, for comparison.
• Observe the colour of the hydrogen carbonate indicator after 7
days
 Limiting factors of photosynthesis
• A limiting factor is a factor present in the
environment that is in such short supply that it
limits the rate of photosynthesis
 Limiting factors of photosynthesis
• Light intensity
• Carbon dioxide – the % of CO2 in the air is
0.04% (Plants that grow in higher concentrations of
CO2 grow faster and bigger)
• Water
• Temperature
• Number of stomata
• Amount of chlorophyll
 Stomata
• The stomata are small openings found on the underside of the leaf
• They open in the light
• This allows carbon dioxide to diffuse into the inside of the leaf
• The oxygen that is produced in photosynthesis diffuses out of the leaf
through the stomata
• Water vapour that has evaporated from the mesophyll cells also diffuses
out
• When it is very hot and sunny, stomata may close to prevent water loss.
 Stomata
• The stomata are surrounded by a pair of
guard cells which control the opening and
closing of the stomata pore
 Growing crops in glass houses
• Farmers use glass houses to control the
limiting factors of photosynthesis to get better
crop yields.
 Glass houses
• In cold climates, tropical fruits and vegetables
can be grown in glass houses by controlling
the temperature, humidity, water, amount of
light and % of carbon dioxide in the air
• In very hot climates, glass houses can be used
to grow crops at a lower temperature than the
outside air, using air conditioning
 Limiting factors in photosynthesis
• Look at the graph in Fig. 6.25 page 116
• 1. up to what light intensity is light a limiting
factor?
• 2. What is the limiting factor for curve A at
higher light intensities?

• Arbitrary units or a.u. are sometimes used in

tables and graphs, where the real units would
be difficult to use.
The importance of photosynthesis
• It brings the Sun’s energy into ecosystems
• It converts light energy into chemical energy
and provides plants and other living organisms
with food
• It maintains the concentration of O2 and CO2 in
the air
• It enables plants to be carbon sinks as they
remove CO2 from the air, make glucose with it
and use it for growth
 Review
Complete the learning objectives ticksheet
B2.3 Photosynthesis
B2.3.1 Photosynthesis   
Photosynthesis is summarised by the equation:
light energy
carbon dioxide + waterà glucose + oxygen
During photosynthesis:
light energy is absorbed by a green substance called chlorophyll, which is found in
chloroplasts in some plant cells and algae
this energy is used by converting carbon dioxide (from the air) and water (from the soil) into
sugar (glucose). Oxygen is released as a by-product
The rate of photosynthesis may be limited by shortage of light, low temperature, or
shortage of carbon dioxide
Light, temperature and the availability of carbon dioxide interact and in practice any one of
them may be the factor that limits photosynthesis.
The glucose produced in photosynthesis may be converted into insoluble starch for storage.
Plant cells use some of the glucose produced during photosynthesis for respiration.
Some glucose in plants and algae is used to produce fat or oil for storage, to produce
cellulose, which strengthens the cell wall or to produce proteins
To produce proteins, plants also use nitrate ions that are absorbed from the soil.

Warm up Recall Consolidate Review Take it Further

 Test
• Test on Chapters 5 and 6
 Homework
• Answer questions 1 to 6 on pages 119 and 120
 Answers
• 1 D
• 2 B
• 3 D
• 4 A
• 5 B
• 6ai palisade mesophyll
aii it has many chloroplasts and the cells are tightly packed together
close to the upper surface of the leaf
b A, B, I, E
c H is a guard cell responsible for opening and closing the stomata
for diffusion of gases
d Water moves up E (the xylem) and then passes by osmosis into
the mesophyll cells and then into the chloroplasts