How does light intensity affect the rate of photosynthesis

Hi

Photosynthesis is the process through which green plants make their own food. There are many factors that can affect the process of photosynthesis both positively or negatively. Some of these factors are light intensity, concentration of carbon di oxide, temperature  and can be water sometimes.

How light intensity affects photosynthesis:

As we have studied from childhood that process of photosynthesis occurs in the presence of light, so if the intensity of light will increase obviously the rate of photosynthesis will speed up and become fast.Similarly, if the light intensity will be low it will badly affect the rate of photosynthesis and plants will suffer from growth and development related problems due to lack of sufficient food.Now what happens if the intensity of light is very high, ofcourse it will increase photosynthesis but not always. Why? Because along with light plant also needs CO2 and water for the process of photosynthesis to occur. If light is available in sufficient amount but CO2 or water is not available in sufficient amount then it can become a hindering factor and it is not sure that photosynthesis will increase.Other than that, extremely high intensity of light can also negatively effect photosynthesis and cause some problems like bleaching of chlorophyll where plants are unable to prepare food in a well manner.There is another interesting fact about light, that its wavelength also effects the photosynthesis differently. In attached image you can see how photosynthetic pigments chlorophyll a and b absorb light differently during photosynthesis.

Hope it helps!

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