1 Photosynthesis

and the carbon cycle

1.1 Photosynthesis
1.1A How light level affects
photosynthesis
Focus
In this exercise, you decide which variables to keep the same in an
experiment. You put results into a table and make a conclusion.
Arun does an experiment to investigate whether plants photosynthesise
faster when they have more light.
The diagram shows the apparatus he uses.

Apparatus A Apparatus B Apparatus C

Arun puts Apparatus A next to a window.

He puts Apparatus B in a shady corner of the same room.
He puts Apparatus C in a dark cupboard.

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 1.1 Photosynthesis

1 What should Arun keep the same for all three sets of apparatus?
Tick (✓) three boxes.

the amount of light

the type of plant

the mass of the plant

the number of bubbles

the temperature

Arun leaves his three sets of apparatus for two days. Then he
measures the volume of gas collected in each test tube.
This is what he writes down.
A 18.3 cm3
B 7.2 cm3
C 0,5 cm3
2 Complete Arun’s results table.

Apparatus Amount of light

A
B
C

3 What conclusion can Arun make from his results?

Tick (✓) one box.

Plants need chlorophyll for photosynthesis.

Plants that live in water photosynthesise more slowly

than plants that live on land.

Plants photosynthesise faster when they have more light.

Plants use water for photosynthesis.

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

1.1B The effect of different colours of

light on the rate of photosynthesis
Practice
This exercise gives you practice in recording results, and also thinking
about variables in an experiment.
Marcus wanted to find out which colour of light would make a plant
photosynthesise fastest.
The diagram shows the apparatus that he set up.

red cellophane blue cellophane

water water

test tube test tube

water plant water plant

green cellophane colourless cellophane

water water

test tube test tube

water plant water plant

Marcus shone a light onto each tube. He counted the number of bubbles
that the water plant gave off in one minute. He did this three times for
each piece of pondweed.
These are his results.
red - 10, 12, 11 blue - 8, 12, 10
green - 4, 5, 6 colourless - 11, 13, 12

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 1.1 Photosynthesis

1 What was the variable that Marcus changed in his experiment?

2 What was the variable that Marcus measured in his experiment?

3 List three variables that Marcus should have kept the same in
his experiment.

first variable

second variable

third variable

4 Draw a results table in the space below, and fill in Marcus’s results
so that they are easy to understand. Remember to include a column
where you can write in the mean value for each set of results.

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

5 Complete the bar chart to show Marcus’s results.

red green blue colourless

Colour of light

6 Write down a conclusion that Marcus can make from his results.

1.1C Turning an idea into a hypothesis

that can be tested
Challenge
In this challenging task you will choose an idea and then turn it into
a hypothesis that can be tested by scientific experiment. Then you will
write a plan for the experiment.
Here is an idea about water plants and photosynthesis.
Idea: Carbon dioxide is one of the raw materials for photosynthesis.
We can provide extra carbon dioxide to a water plant by bubbling
carbon dioxide gas into the water. This could allow the water plant to
photosynthesise faster.

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 1.1 Photosynthesis

1 Use the idea to write down a hypothesis that you could test by
doing an experiment.
Check your hypothesis with your teacher before you move on to
question 2.

2 Use the next two pages to write a plan for an experiment you could
do, to test your hypothesis.
• Try to make your plan really clear and detailed, so that
someone else could follow it to do your experiment.
• Include a labelled diagram of the apparatus you would use.
• Draw a results chart, with headings.
• Predict what you think the results might be, giving a reason for
your prediction.
• Remember to state your independent variable, dependent
variable, and the variables that you will try to keep the same.

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

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 1.2 More about photosynthesis

1.2 More about

photosynthesis
1.2A Duckweed experiment
Focus
In this exercise, you practise planning experiments, recording results and
making conclusions.
Sofia does an experiment to find out if extra nitrate fertiliser helps
duckweed plants to grow faster.
She takes five dishes and puts the same amount of distilled water into
each of them. She labels the dishes A, B, C, D and E.
She adds one grain of fertiliser to dish B, two grains to dish C, three
grains to dish D and four grains to dish E.
She puts five duckweed plants into each dish.

A B

C D

E
duckweed plants grains of fertiliser

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

1 Write the number of grains of fertiliser that Sofia puts into each
dish in the boxes next to each diagram.

2 Which variable does Sofia change in her experiment? Tick (✓) the
correct answer.
number of duckweed plants
volume of water
quantity of fertiliser

3 Which variables should Sofia keep the same in her experiment?

Tick (✓) all the correct answers.
number of duckweed plants

quantity of fertiliser

light intensity

volume of water

temperature

After two weeks, Sofia counts the number of duckweed plants in

each dish. She writes the results in her notebook.

A 5 plants B 9 plants

C 10 plants D 8 plants

E no plants

4 Complete the results chart.

Dish Number of grains of fertiliser Number of plants at end of experiment

A 0 5

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 1.2 More about photosynthesis

5 Draw a bar chart to display Sofia’s results.

Put ‘number of grains of fertiliser’ on the horizontal axis.
Put ‘number of plants at end of experiment’ on the vertical axis.

Sofia says:

From my experiement, I conclude that

duckweed plants grow more if they have
extra nitrate fertilier. But too much nitrate
fertiliser stops them growing.

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

6 Explain how Sofia’s results support her conclusion.

7 How can Sofia improve her experiment?

Tick (✓) the correct answer.

Use three sets of dishes for each quantity of fertiliser.

Use a different kind of water plant in each dish.

Put each dish in a different temperature.

1.2B Testing a variegated leaf

for starch
Practice
In this exercise, you provide explanations using your scientific knowledge.
Zara found a plant that had leaves with some green areas and some
white areas. Leaves like this are called variegated leaves.

white

green

She decided to test one of the leaves for starch. She made this prediction:
The green parts of the leaf will contain starch, but the white parts
will not.

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 1.2 More about photosynthesis

1 What is the substance that makes leaves green?

2 Explain why Zara’s prediction is likely to be correct.

3 First, Zara put the leaf into boiling water, and left it there for
5 minutes.
Explain why she did this.

4 Next, she took the leaf out of the water and put it into some hot
alcohol.
Explain why she did this.

5 Lastly, Zara dipped the leaf into water and spread it out on a white
tile. The leaf looked white.
She added iodine solution to the leaf. Some parts of the leaf went
orange-brown, and some went blue-black.
On the diagram below, shade in the parts of the leaf that would go
blue-black, if Zara’s prediction was correct.

6 What substance causes the iodine to turn blue-black?

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

1.2C Floating discs experiment

Challenge
In this task, you will interpret the results of an experiment. You
will think about variables, write a conclusion and use your scientific
knowledge to explain a set of results.
Sofia and Zara do an experiment to investigate photosynthesis.
They cut ten little discs out of a leaf, using a hole punch. Each disc is
exactly the same size and is cut from the same leaf.
They put one disc into water in a small beaker and shine light onto it.
Little bubbles appear on the underside of the leaf disc.
After a while, the bubbles of gas make the leaf disc float to the surface
of the water.
Sofia and Zara record the time taken for the leaf disc to float to the
surface, then repeat their experiment with four more leaf discs.
leaf disc

bubbles

1 Name the gas that the leaf disc produced when it photosynthesised.

2 Explain why the bubbles of gas formed on the underside of the

leaf, not on the top.

3 In what way does the time taken for the leaf disc to rise depend on
the bubbles of gas? Explain your answer.

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 1.2 More about photosynthesis

Sofia and Zara do the investigation again, but this time they put the
beaker and the leaf discs in a room with only dim lighting.
Here are the girls’ results from both tests.

Time taken for leaf disc to rise

to the surface, in seconds
Conditions Try 1 Try 2 Try 3 Try 4 Try 5 Mean

bright light 14 3 12 14 11

dim light 44 66 69 77 71

4 Suggest the hypothesis that the girls were testing.

5 What was the independent variable in the girls’ experiment?

6 Sofia thought that there was one anomalous result in each row of
their results table.
Draw circles around the two anomalous results in the table.

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

7 Calculate the mean times taken for each row in the results table.
Write your answers in the last column.
Remember not to include the anomalous results when you calculate
the mean.

8 Suggest why the times taken for the five leaf discs to rise in each of
the lighting conditions were not all the same.

9 Write a conclusion for the girls’ experiment.

10 Suggest an explanation for the difference between the mean times

for the leaf discs to rise in bright light and in dim light

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 1.3 The carbon cycle

1.3 The carbon cycle

1.3 Completing a carbon cycle diagram
The diagram shows part of the carbon cycle.

carbon dioxide
in the air

carbohydrates carbon compounds in

in decomposers fossil fuels e.g. oil and coal

carbohydrates carbohydrates
in animals in green plants

Focus
1 On the diagram, write these labels next to the correct arrows:
R next to three arrows that show respiration
P next to one arrow that shows photosynthesis
C next to one arrow that shows fossil fuels being formed
D next to two arrows that show decomposition
F next to one arrow that shows feeding

Practice
Hydrogencarbonate indicator changes colour according to how much
carbon dioxide there is in it.
• The indicator is purple when there is no carbon dioxide.
• The indicator is red when there is a low concentration of carbon
dioxide.
• The indicator is yellow when there is a high concentration of
carbon dioxide.

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

Arun set up four boiling tubes like this:

hydrogencarbonate
indicator

freshwater shrimp

water plant
A B C D

Arun recorded the colour of the indicator in each tube at the start of his
experiment. Then he left the tubes in the laboratory for two hours, and
recorded the colour again.
This is what he wrote down.

A red, red B red, yellow

C red, purple D red, red

2 Suggest why Arun put a bung in each tube.

3 Describe two variables that Arun kept the same in his experiment.

4 Construct a results table in the space below, and complete it to

show Arun’s results.

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 1.3 The carbon cycle

5 Explain Arun’s results.

Challenge
6 Use Arun’s results, and the diagram of the carbon cycle, to explain
the importance of plants in maintaining a stable concentration of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

1.4 Climate change

1.4 Interpreting graphs about
climate change
In this exercise, you look at graphs displaying data collected by NASA
(the USA’s National Aeronatutics and Space Adminstration) and
NOAA (the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmosphere Adminstration).
You will need to study the graphs carefully to answer the questions, and
also use your own knowledge about photosynthesis, the carbon cycle
and climate change.

Focus
Here are three graphs about climate change.
Graph A
+250

+200

+150

Change in sea
+100
level in mm

+50

−50
1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020
Year

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 1.4 Climate change

Graph B
0.8
mean values for
1979 to 2016
0.6
values in
Extent of sea ice in the 2017 to 2018
Bering Sea (in the Arctic) 0.4
in millions of km2
0.2

0.0
Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Date

Graph C
0.042

0.040

0.038
Percentage
carbon dioxide
0.036
concentration in
the atmosphere
0.034

0.032

0.030
1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020
Year

1 Write the letter of the graph that matches each of these statements.

There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than there

used to be.

Sea level is steadily rising.

Sea ice in the Arctic is present for fewer months in the year now,

and there is less of it.

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1 Photosynthesis and the carbon cycle

Practice
2 Look at graph A.
Describe in words what is shown on the graph. Include some figures
in your answer, for example by stating the change in sea level since
1880.

3 Look at graph B.
Describe two ways in which the extent of sea ice in the Bering Sea in
2017 to 2018 differed from the mean extent from 1979 to 2016.

1st way

2nd way

Challenge
4 Look at graph B again.
What extra data would you want to collect, in order to be certain
that the extent of sea ice really is changing? Explain your answer.

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 1.4 Climate change

5 Look at graph C.
Most scientists think that human activities are contributing to the
changes in carbon dioxide concentration shown in the graph.
Use your own knowledge to explain why they think this.

6 Look at graph C again.

The measurements of carbon dioxide concentration were made in
Hawaii, which is in the northern hemisphere.
Thinking about plants and photosynthesis, suggest why the line
wiggles up and down each year.

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