General Biology I · Module 7 · Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis Lab

Run a leaf on the bench and find what limits it, practise the Calvin cycle bookkeeping and graph reading, sort the pieces of the process, and use it all on real data from farms, greenhouses and labs. Nothing here is graded.

Part 1: Leaf Bench

Live readouts
MeasureValue

A teaching model of one square metre of a healthy leaf, built from the standard biochemical model of photosynthesis (rubisco limited and electron transport limited rates, with photorespiration and respiration) and rounded, typical values. Light is photosynthetically active photon flux. Monochromatic light uses the action spectrum of a thin layer of cells; thick leaves use green light somewhat better than this. Animations are sped up and molecule counts are reduced.