MadSci Network: Cell Biology |
Ok a toughy, I had to look far and wide for an answer to this one but
here's what I came up with.
I found a couple of reasones why sulphuric acid might affect the growth and
photosynthesis in plants. One is that Sulpher dioxide, which is the gas
that forms sulphuric acid, can react with the enzymes involved in
photosynthesis and irreversibly destroy them. This in turn leads to a big
decrease in the photosynthesis. Now the concentration of sulpher dioxide
gas is sulphuric acid is small but may be enough to slow the overall rate
of photosynthesis.
Another study I found was one on the effect of pH on photosynthesis, which
is really the effect of acid on photosynthesis.You can find the study at
this link.
Now what it states is that that lowering the pH or by having more acid in
the water effects chlorophyll molecules, which are very important to
photosynthesis, by altering them so they can no longer participate
in the correct reactions they need to perform. Also that high acid
concentrations effect other enzymes which lead to overall reduction in
photosynthesis.
well I hope this helps
David Barker
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