Title: The relationship between light intensity and the rate of photosynthesis in spinach leaves | StudyHippo.com
Headings: The relationship between light intensity and the rate of photosynthesis in spinach leaves
The relationship between light intensity and the rate of photosynthesis in spinach leaves
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Content: We expected rate of photosynthesis to increase with increasing light intensity. This was because increasing light intensity would increase the amount of energy available for the light dependent photosynthetic reactions. However, the increasing rate of photosynthesis was predicted to eventually level off with increasing light intensity because when light intensity was no longer a limiting factor of photosynthetic rate, other factors such as amount of water and CO2 became limiting. Therefore, a maximum rate of photosynthesis was reached at a level of “light intensity saturation.” ( textbook)Materials and Methods: This investigation involved determining the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis as measured by rate of oxygen production of spinach leaves. This measurement was taken by the determining the rate at which spinach segments floated in liquid as oxygen produced during photosynthesis diffused into liquid-filled intercellular spaces. However, intercellular spaces of spinach leaves are largely gas-filled by nature. Thus, the spinach segments were first made to sink by subjecting a mixture of the leaves and 0.2% NaHCO3 to a vacuum aspirator, which infiltrated the cells with NaHCO3, a source of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. Page: