Answer to Question #198414 in Molecular Biology for daniyal

Question

. A plant sealed in an air-tight jar will die in about a week. An animal placed in a similar air-tight jar will die in a matter of hours.

(a)   What is the cause of the plant’s death? 

(b)  What is the cause of the animal’s death?

(c)   Would the survival times for these organisms change if they were placed together in the same jar? Explain your reasons.

 

Answer 1

a) The plant will die after a week because plants perform two biochemical processes, one is photosynthesis and another is respiration.

During photosynthesis, Carbon dioxide( Source- external environment), water(source- absorb from soil via roots), sunlight(from sun) and chlorophyll ( present within plants in chloroplasts)are utilised to produce glucose (that will store in plants in the form of starch) and release oxygen in the outside environment. While during respiration, the sugar that is produced during photosynthesis and oxygen is utilised to produce energy for plant growth that means ATP is produced from glucose and carbon dioxide and water is released.

(b) The animal will die within hours because of absence of oxygen.The animal will utilise all the oxygen that is already present in the container and there will be no oxygen left further. Oxygen is essential for respiration among animals. Blood cells carry oxygen to the cells throughout our body from animal's respiratory organ. Brain cells are highly sensitive to lack of oxygen that leads to condition called hypoxia that can cause brain damage or death.

(c) If the plant and animal both kept in the air tight container, the survival time for both will definitely increase because the animal will repire with the help of oxygen released during photosynthesis by plant and the plant will perform photosynthesis by using carbon dioxide released by animal during respiration but both will eventually die because of excess carbon dioxide released by the plant.