Surya used a plant with variegated leaves for an experiment on photosynthesis. He tested a leaf with iodine after keeping the plant in sunlight for a few hours.
(a) Which parts of the leaf will turn blue black after the iodine test?
(b) What does this tell us about the role of chlorophyll in photosynthesis?
(c) Write the overall chemical equation for photosynthesis.
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(a) The green parts of the variegated leaf will turn blue-black because they contain chlorophyll and can produce starch.
(b) It shows that chlorophyll is essential for photosynthesis because only the parts with chlorophyll produce starch (which turns blue-black with iodine).
(c) $6\text{CO}_2 + 12\text{H}_2\text{O} \xrightarrow[\text{chlorophyll}]{\text{light energy}} \text{C}_6\text{H}_{12}\text{O}_6 + 6\text{H}_2\text{O} + 6\text{O}_2 \uparrow$