Photosynthesis Short Answer Questiones

1. A plant and a mouse are placed in a sealed container with a watering system. For a period of time, both will survive. Explain what the two organisms can provide for each other in order to allow them to survive temporarily.
Expecting that the plant in the sealed container has some kind of access to sunlight, this will allow the plant to continue to lose chlorophyll a electrons. While it's losing these electrons, it relies on the watering system to then replace the electrons that were lost during the process. Water molecules inside the thylakoid begin to split. They replenish chlorophyll a electron supply and also create oxygen, that is released from the cell as a result of the splitting molecules. Because the mouse is an animal, it relies on the oxygen released by the plant to live as well as the water provided in the container.As a result of this the plant takes in carbon dioxide released by the mouse and the cycle continues.

2. It is possible to measure the rate of the "photo" reactions in plants by measuring O2 levels produced by chloroplasts. If bicarbonate solution, a source of CO2 is provided to the plants, the rate of the "photo" reactions increases.

a) Explain why measuring O2 levels provides an indication of the rate of the "photo" reactions.

Measuring O2 levels may provide an indication for the rate of "photo" reactions because if there is a higher amount of oxygen that is being released, this means that electrons are being replaced and the water molecules are splitting at a fast rate.

b) Being as specific as possible, describe how the plants will use the CO2 provided by the bicarbonate solution.

Using an enzyme called rubisco the plant will pull molecules of carbon from the air and then fix them to another molecule that is located insidethe chloroplast. This then allows the plant to create food molecules.

c) Propose an explanation of how increasing the CO2 source for the plants will affect the rate of the "photo" reactions. 

It may be possible that the rate of the plant will be slowed down due to the plant being more exposed to CO2, therefore, the more it has to undergo the Calvin Cycle in which it is continuously turning CO2 into sugar molecules.

3. Some plants grow much more quickly than others. For a plant that is growing at a rapid rate, propose a hypothesis as to whether cellular respiration or photosynthesis is occurring at a faster rate. Justify your hypothesis.

I think that the process of photosynthesis is occuring faster than in other plants. Because the faster the plant captures the energy from the sun and produces food molecules, the faster the plant will reach the cellular respiration stage in which energy in the form of chemical bonds is released and used to fuel the plant that then allows the plant to grow.

Research Activity For S.P

1. Ethnobotany
2. I chose this  subject because I didn't really know that there was a specific area of study that explored the relationship between humans and plants. I've always been interested in the culture of the Native American community, and I think that it'd be cool to explore their plant/medicinal uses for plants and how it is that they discovered those benefits. 
3. Research projects: Scientists are challenged by the desire to preserve the cultural identity and knowledge of indegenous people surrounding their knowledge on plants.

3 Prompts: Dirt! The Movie

5. I definitely agree with Stamets. I think that a large part of global warming is due to the way we as humans treat Earth and how we exhaust its resources as if they weer infinite.Personally, to me the worst part of this resource exhaustion is that we've been doing it for so long that it's kind of been ingrained in our society and in our way of life. We continue doing the same old thing even though we can see their negative impacts.

7. I think that if everyone did the best they could to preserve the health of this planet it would certainly help, although, I don't know if it would be enough or if by the time we as a society realize that something needs to be done it may be too late by that time. I think the governments have a great responsibility because they have links or manage large corporations that are greatly impacting and influencing all of this damage to Earth.

3. It's sad to hear that because of money people are committing suicide anywhere but to hear that it is also due to the pressure of companies and the government for farmers to change their tools and their ways of growing their crops. I thing that if something like this in the United States sadly I think that it would take many farmer suicides for it to capture the governments attention and I think it would require a large push and lots of conviction from the people to want change but to be willing to change.