Name:__________________________________________________Year&Section:___________

Group No._________________ Date Performed: ________________Score: ________________

ACTIVITY 4
LIBERATION OF OXYGEN IN PHOTOSYNTHESIS

I. INTRODUCTION
Oxygen is released as a by-product in photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the only source
of oxygen in nature. Without plants, the oxygen on earth will be exhausted and life will cease.
From tracer studies, it has been found that (a) oxygen ls a product of photosynthesis and (b)
oxygen comes from water.
Oxygen is evolved in the first part of photosynthesis in process known as photolysis. It is
a light-requiring process, which can be presented as follows: 2 H20 --------- 4 (H)+ 02. Oxygen
production, therefore Is an Indication of the rate of photosynthesis. Energy is needed to
produce sugar in photosynthesis, and this is supplied by the light-conversion activity of
chlorophyll.
Under light energy is gained when electrons from chlorophyll are transferred to certain
electron acceptors such as PPN (triphosphopyridine nucleotide) and ATP (adenosine
triphosphate). Electron are then added from water to chlorophyll, while restores those lost
in energy transfer. It Is in the transfer of electrons from water to chlorophyll that oxygen gas
Is produced as by product. The following is an experiment to prove that oxygen Is released
by plants in photosynthesis.

II. OBJECTIVE
A. _______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
B. _______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

III. MATERIALS
• Transparent cups, 6 or more (large • Single hole puncher or sturdy
enough to hold 300 mL) straw
• Measuring cup • Plastic syringe, 10-mL or bigger (2
• Water or more without the needle)
• 1/8 or 1/4 teaspoon • Permanent marker
• Baking soda • Light source (a bright light works
• Dish soap best, ex rechargeable flashlight)
• Plant leaves (spinach or ivy work • Paper towels
best) • Timer
General Biology (BIO121)
Laboratory Class
2nd Sem AY 2023-2024
 • Labelling tape • Pencil or pen

IV. PROCEDURE
1. Fill three cups with 300 mL water. Add about 1/8 teaspoon baking soda and 1 drop
of liquid dish soap to each of the cups (if you are using a 1/4 teaspoon measure, fill it
only halfway). Gently stir the solution until everything has dissolved. Try not to create
too many bubbles. Note: The baking soda provides the plant leaves with carbon
dioxide for photosynthesis.
2. Punch out 40 leaf disks from the spinach or ivy leaves using the hole puncher or a
straw. Avoid cutting through major leaf veins.
3. Remove the plunger of the syringe and place 10 leaf disks into the syringe barrel.
4. Place the plunger back into the syringe and push it down until only a small volume of
air is left in the syringe. Be careful not to crush the leaf disks.
5. Suck up a small volume of the baking soda solution from one of the cups into the
syringe with the leaf disks and hold it vertically. The leaf disks should all float on the
surface of the solution.
6. Remove the air pockets within the leaves to make the leaf disks sink, as follows.
a. Carefully push out all the air from the syringe.
b. Close the opening of the syringe with a finger and pull back on the plunger to
create a vacuum. Hold the vacuum for 10–15 seconds and swirl the leaf disks
to suspend them in the solution.
c. Stop pulling on the plunger and remove your finger from the syringe opening
to release the vacuum.
7. Repeat step 6 until all leaf disks have sunk to the bottom of the solution.
8. Remove the plunger from the syringe and pour all 10 leaf disks with the solution into
a fresh, clear plastic cup. Fill the cup with baking soda solution up to a depth of about
3 cm. Label this cup "1."
9. Repeat steps 3–8 twice more, with 10 leaf disks each, to prepare the other two cups.
Label the other cups "2" and "3."
10. For the control set-up, repeat steps 3–8 but fill the 4th cup with only pure water, make
sure there is no contamination of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in the syringe
you will be using with this set-up.
11. Place all four cups with the leaf disks under your light source. Make sure the light
shines straight onto the cups from above. Each cup should be positioned so that they
get an equal amount of light.
12. Start a timer. Observe closely what happens to the leaf disks. Write your observations
down in your lab notebook.
13. At the end of each minute, record the number of floating disks for each cup in a data
table like Table 1 in your lab notebook. Briefly swirl the cups to prevent the leaf disks
from getting stuck to the bottom or sides of the cups.
General Biology (BIO121)
Laboratory Class
2nd Sem AY 2023-2024
 14. Continue the experiment until all of the leaf disks are floating.

V. OBSERVATION

Number of Floating Leaf Disks

Cup 1 Cup 2 Cup 3 Cup 4
Time Source of Source of Light: Source of Light: Source of Light:
(minutes) Light:

VI. ANALYSIS

1. How is the control set-up with only water different from the other set-up with sodium
bicarbonate solution?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. Are there leaf disks floating in the control or water solution? Why?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. In the set-up with sodium bicarbonate, would there be a difference in the number of
leaf disks resurfacing under different light conditions?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
General Biology (BIO121)
Laboratory Class
2nd Sem AY 2023-2024
 ________________________________________________________________________
4. Under what condition does more photosynthesis takes place? Why?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. In the following set-up done in the laboratory, what are the different materials/variables
representing the process of photosynthesis?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

VII. REFERENCES

General Biology (BIO121)

Laboratory Class
2nd Sem AY 2023-2024