White Leaves
In this experiment, you will see the importance of photosynthesis in plants and how it is dependent on light.
Materials:
- 1 plant (potted)
- Black construction paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Ruler
- Pencil
Instructions:
1. Measure how big the plant's leaves are with your ruler. Remember to measure width and length. Take the measurements of about four leaves.
2. Using your pencil, begin tracing squares or rectangles on your black construction paper. The squares or rectangles should be slightly bigger than the leaves you measured. Make sure you make two squares per measured leaf.
3. Glue the edges of the construction paper together, matching the same sized squares. These will be your leaf jackets.
4. Fit these “jackets” over each leaf, making sure the entire leaf is covered. If the entire leaf is not covered, you can measure it again.
5. Seal the bottom of the jacket with glue so that the leaf has no access to sunlight. You should now have a potted plant with at least four good sized leaves covered with black construction paper.
6. Wait seven days then remove the construction paper. When you remove the construction paper, you will notice that the plant's leaves have turned white. This is because no sunlight or carbon dioxide has been allowed to reach the leaves and the chlorophyll in the chloroplasts have not been able to absorb light, go through the photosynthetic process and provide the plant with food. As a result, the green color also left the plant's leaf. This is a clear example of how plants are dependent on light energy in order to survive.
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