Gen Biology Lab
Abstract: This lab was called photosynthesis: understanding photosynthesis. It is a highly complex process that needs to be broken down in many steps to understand how it works. This lab covers the big components in photosynthesis including carbon dioxide intake, light consumption, and varying pigmentation.
Introduction:
Photosynthesis is a huge concept to learn and understand in the field of biology. Plants have their own special way of using the ATP they produce. Photosynthesis is a process where plants harness the sunlight they receive and they produce carbohydrates, as well as oxygen for living things and other plants. Now the sunlight ultimately powers the process of photosynthesis. Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist that used a light prism and demonstrated how white light contains varying colors. These colors range from red at one end of the visible spectrum to the color violet at the other end. Then another spectrum was added called the electromagnetic spectrum (or a continuous spectrum) by James Clerk Maxwell; this included: cosmic rays, visible light, x-rays, and radio waves. For plants to use sunlight, they have to absorb it. So pigments absorb light energy. Chlorophyll is a pigment in leaves that reflect green light waves. This is the most important pigment in photosynthesis and there are also accessory pigments used in plants. Also in this lab there is the internal and external anatomy of a typical leaf.
Materials and methods: The first procedure dealt with the internal anatomy of a leaf. The materials needed are: colored pencils, a prepared slide of a leaf, and a compound microscope. After obtaining the prepared slide of a leaf, we used a compound microscope to observe the leaf. Then we sketched the leaf and labeled the following structures: cuticle, epidermis, mesophyll, palisade parenchyma, spongy parenchyma, stomata, and guard cells. The next procedure dealt with the