Effect Of Light Intensity On Photosynthesis

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Introduction
Photosynthesis is the process whereby chlorophyll containing cells in green plants convert incident light to chemical energy and synthesise organic compounds from inorganic compounds (Great Illustrated Dictionary, 1984). It could also be presented by this equation (6CO2 + 6H2O  C6H12O6 + 6O2), all in the presence of sunlight (Mader, 2010).
The word photosynthesis means “putting together with light” (Ashley, 2000). In order for plants to photosynthesis, a source of light energy is needed. This energy is normally obtained from the sun. When sunlight strikes the plant leaves the chlorophyll pigments within the leaves traps it, chlorophyll is found in chloroplasts which gives the leaves a green colour. Some of the trapped energy is used to break up water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The oxygen molecules are then given off into the air and the hydrogen molecules are combined with carbon dioxide to form a sugar called glucose (Great Illustrated Dictionary, 1984). Glucose is the basic food source and it assists with the growth of the plant (Roberts et al, 1993). …show more content…

The scientific name is Elodea Canadensis (Ashley, 2000).
This experiment will look at the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis in Elodea plants.

Aim
The aim of this experiment is to examine the effect of light intensity on the rate of photosynthesis.

Hypothesis
The rate of photosynthesis is directly proportional to light intensity but inversely proportional to