Plants make their own food – absorbing and converting sunlight energy into chemical energy stored in carbohydrates such as glucose and other biomolecules. Explore the requirements for this process which is vital to the life of plants and also vital to all animals on the planet.
Identifying the conditions needed for photosynthesis
Test leaves for starch. Use leaves that have been exposed to different amounts of light or carbon dioxide, or that do not contain chlorophyll in every cell.
Testing leaves for starch: the technique
This basic laboratory technique allows you to identify the presence of starch in a leaf with a solution of iodine in potassium iodide.
