Question

In the experiment of testing co₂ is necessary for photosynthesis what is the need of KOH(pottasium hydroxide).

Answer 1

In the experiment to prove that co2 is essential for photosynthesis,a potted plant is taken and one of its leaf is selected.Without plucking the leaf,part of the leaf is kept inside a beaker containing KOH solution.Here KOH solution is used to absorb the existing co2 in the beaker so that the inserted part of leaf will not get co2 for photosynthesis.After a day the leaf is taken and certain chemical experiments to know the presence of starch is done.Since the covered part of leaf didn't had co2 ,it could not perform photosynthesis and as a result starch is not formed.So that is why KOH solution is used in this experiment.