Plants make their own food by photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide and water react together in the presence of light and chlorophyll to make glucose and oxygen. The glucose is converted into starch, fats and oils for storage. It is used to make cellulose for cell walls, and proteins for growth and repair. It is also used by the plant to release energy by respiration.
glucose + oxygen
6CO2 + 6H2O
C6H12O6 + 6O2
Respiration
It is not just animals that respire plants carry out respiration as well. Plants respire all the time because their cells need energy to stay alive, but plants can only photosynthesise when they are in the light.
The diagrams summarise what this means for the overall release of carbon dioxide or oxygen from plants. Remember that respiration uses oxygen and produces carbon dioxide. How plants affect the atmosphere: day
Understanding photosynthesis
You should be able to describe how the understanding of the process of photosynthesis has developed.
Using glucose
The glucose made in photosynthesis is transported around the plant as soluble sugars. Glucose is used in respiration to release energy for use by the plant's cells. However, glucose is converted into insoluble substances for storage. These insoluble storage substances include: Oils Fats Starch The advantages of using insoluble substances such as starch for storage, rather than soluble substances such as glucose, include: They do not affect the water concentration inside cells
They do not move away from the storage areas in the plant Glucose and starch can be converted into other substances in plants. For example: Cellulose for cell walls Proteins for growth and repair
Limiting factors
Three factors can limit the speed of photosynthesis - light intensity, carbon dioxide concentration and temperature.
Light intensity
Without enough light, a plant cannot photosynthesise very quickly, even if there is plenty of water and carbon dioxide. Increasing the light intensity will boost the speed of photosynthesis.
Sometimes photosynthesis is limited by the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air. Even if there is plenty of light, a plant cannot photosynthesise if there is insufficient carbon dioxide.
Temperature
If it gets too cold, the rate of photosynthesis will decrease. Plants cannot photosynthesise if it gets too hot. If you plot the rate of photosynthesis against the levels of these three limiting factors, you get graphs like the ones above. In practice, any one of these factors could limit the rate of photosynthesis. Now try a Test Bite. Read on if you're taking the higher paper.
6CO2 + 6H2O
C6H12O6 + 6O2
O. The transfer
Plants watered with water containing 18O atoms release oxygen gas containing 18O atoms Plants supplied with carbon dioxide containing 18O atoms do not release oxygen gas containing 18O atoms This shows that the oxygen gas produced by photosynthesis comes from water and not carbon dioxide. Now try a Test Bite - higher tier.