Monday, April 22, 2013

What is Life Short Answers


1. If a plant and a mouse were placed in a sealed container with a water source, both the organisms will benefit form each other in the following ways:

1.     The mouse would get oxygen from the plant due to photosynthesis
2.     The plant would get carbon dioxide from the mouse’s breathing

Additionally, both organisms would grow and have longer lives due to the water source provided.

2.

a)    Measuring O2 levels can help provide an indication of the rate of “photo” reactions because the energy captured from the splitting of water molecules can be determined. Since oxygen is produced when water molecules split, we can therefore determine the rate of “photo” reactions.
b)   With a bicarbonate solution (another source of CO2), the plant would utilize the molecule’s CO2 during photosynthesis to produce both sugar and oxygen.
c)    By increasing the amount of CO2, the plant is provided with more “food” and due to this abundance, the plant will need to work faster to compensate. Thus increasing the “photo” reactions.
3.  I believe that it is cellular respiration that is occurring at a faster rate, because when a plant grows quicker it has an abundant source of “food”, in this case glucose, to feed on. With an abundance of glucose, the plant will want to break up the sugar to become useable energy for the plant.