Photosynthesis Research Paper

Unlike animals, plants do not require other organisms to obtain food. Instead, they can produce their own nutriment through a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis takes place in the chloroplasts (the green pigment of the plant), during which green plants convert light to chemical energy and store the product in the bonds of sugar. For photosynthesis to successfully take place plants H2O, C2O, light and chlorophyll are needed.

Photosynthesis doesn’t only provide nutriment to the plant; it also produces oxygen, which is absolutely essential to every living organism on Earth. Therefore photosynthesis is a crucial process and holds a very important role in the environment.

There are many factors that can influence the rate of photosynthesis

In order for photosynthesis to successfully take place, there need to be particular conditions and environmental requirement, such as a strong light intensity, water, optimum temperature (around 35 degrees) and good rate of carbon dioxide. If these factors are missing the rate of photosynthesis will be slowed down.

With time, farmers started using their understanding of the process of photosynthesis and its limiting factor to increase the rate of photosynthesis and therefore automatically increase the growing conditions of the crops. One of the most common limiting factors is the lack of light intensity, which is a persistent problem during the colder season in most countries (with some exceptions in places closer to the Equator.

The natural photoperiod (the period of daylight in every 24 hours) changes throughout the whole year depending on the season (with some exceptions, depending of how far located form the equator you are). In the North Hemisphere the day length is the briefest on December 21 and after that its starts increasing until June 21; it starts decreasing from there on. In places like Sthockolm (Sweden) in January a day lasts from 8:47am to 2:55pm, while in Kiruna it darkness last 24 hours.

(Doucleff,2013)

Plants perceive the light intensity in a different way that the human eye does. By looking at this graph you can notice that while the human eye has the strongest response in the yellow/green section of the light spectrum (600nm), plants respond more to the blue and red. The duration, the direction and the spectral quality of the light impact the rate of photosynthesis of the plants. Plants are highly responsive to the conditions of the environment surrounding them, which is why plants raised in greenhouses, under grow-light bulbs, might look different from plants grown outside greenhouses.

Photosynthesis surprisingly, doesn’t require very high intensity of direct light, around 80-110 watts per square meter (projected on the surface of the leaf). However higher intensity have a better effect on the rate of photosynthesis, as it manages to hit not only the top part of the plant but also the bottom leaves, maximizing the effects of photosynthesis to the plants