Photosynthesis Lab Report

Introduction Photosynthesis is a well perceived performance in which plants and other defined organisms use the energy of photons to convert carbon dioxide and water into a simple monosaccharide sugar known as glucose. Photosynthesis provides the fundamental energy source for essentially all living organisms. The most substantial and valuable byproduct of photosynthesis is oxygen, one of the most abundant elements living organisms depend on. Photosynthesis occurs in many organisms such as green plants, algae, various bacterium, and seaweeds. These organisms are considered to be sugar factories, producing millions of new sugar molecules (glucose) per second. Glucose, a carbohydrate, is an energy source to build leaves, flowers, seeds, etc. As well, glucose is converted into cellulose, the structural material used in plants to make up their cell walls. Most plants generate more glucose than they use, however it is just not thrown away, it is stored in the form of starch and other carbs which is then reserved for extra energy or building materials. The metabolic processes of cellular respiration and photosynthesis recycle oxygen, as it is a reactant in respiration and a product in photosynthesis. Oxygen is used as the last receptor in the Electron Transport Chain, when the hydrogen ions from the NADH bind to the oxygen forming water (Freeman, 2002). The water enters the light reaction which then gets oxidized into oxygen. The light reactions undergo a process called photolysis, the splitting apart of water by light, which produces oxygen, hydrogen, and electrons. Photosynthesis makes fixed carbon compounds. At light intensities above the photosynthesis light saturation range (1,200-2,000 ft-c), the rate of photosynthesis is much higher than the rate of respiration. As the light intensity decreases the rate of photosynthesis goes down. Eventually, a light intensity is reached where the rates of photosynthesis