Title: Factors affecting photosynthesis - carbon dioxide and temperature - Photosynthesis - Edexcel - GCSE Biology (Single Science) Revision - Edexcel - BBC Bitesize
Headings: Factors affecting photosynthesis - carbon dioxide and temperature
Photosynthesis
Factors affecting photosynthesis - carbon dioxide and temperature
Carbon dioxide concentration
Temperature
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Content: Factors affecting photosynthesis - carbon dioxide and temperature - Photosynthesis - Edexcel - GCSE Biology (Single Science) Revision - Edexcel - BBC Bitesize
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Photosynthesis
Green plants and algae use light energy to make glucose and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water. Temperature, carbon dioxide concentration and light intensity can affect the rate of photosynthesis. Part of
Biology (Single Science)
Plant structures and their functions
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Factors affecting photosynthesis - carbon dioxide and temperature
Carbon dioxide concentration
Carbon dioxide is one of the reactants in photosynthesis. If the concentration of carbon dioxide is increased, the rate of photosynthesis will therefore increase. At some point, another factor may become limiting and this is shown by the plateau (flattened section) of the graph. Temperature
The chemical reactions involved in photosynthesis are controlled by enzymes. As with any other enzyme-controlled reaction, the rate of photosynthesis is affected by temperature. At low temperatures, the rate of photosynthesis is limited by the number of collisions between enzymes and substrate. As temperature increases the number of collisions increases, therefore the rate of photosynthesis increases. However, at high temperatures, enzymes are denatured and this will decrease the rate of photosynthesis.