Mr McCondichie

Energy in Ecosystems

• Lesson 1
• Lesson 2
• Lesson 3+4
• Lesson 5
• Lesson 6
• Lesson 7+8
• Lesson 9
• Lesson 10
• Lesson 11
• Lesson 12
• Lesson 13

Lesson 1 - Making Food

Learning Intentions:

• Name the process plants use to make food
• State how plant food is stored
• Carry out an experiment to show that plants store food.

Lets brainstorm!

Where does food come from?

Experiment - Testing for Starch

You are know going to carry out an experiment to show that plants store food (starch) in their leaves.

Using iodine (which turns blue / black if starch is present) we can test leaves to see if they have been making food.

Collect

• Safety mat and goggles
• tripod stand
• Bunsen burner
• small beaker
• small test tube
• white tile
• test tube rack

Instructions

1. Cut a leaf disc from the plant.
2. Boil 50ml of water in a small beaker.
3. Add the leaf disc and boil for 1 minute.
4. Turn your Bunsen burner flame off.
5. Using tongs, remove the leaf disc and place it in a boiling tube.
6. Take the boiling tube to the teacher to get alcohol.
7. Soak the boiling tube in the beaker.
8. When the leaf has turned white, tip the alcohol into the container at the front.
9. Rinse the leaf in hot water in the beaker.
10. Spread it on the tile and add several drops of iodine.
11. Observe any colour changes to the leaf.

Making Food

Plants use a process called photosynthesis to make food.

Photosynthesis happens in the leaves.

The food plants make is a sugar called glucose.

To store its food the plant joins the glucose molecules together to make starch.