Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1918 Sep 20;1(1):1-16.
doi: 10.1085/jgp.1.1.1.

ON THE DYNAMICS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

W J Osterhout  1 , A R Haas
Affiliations

ON THE DYNAMICS OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

W J Osterhout et al. J Gen Physiol. .

Abstract

Minute amounts of photosynthesis in marine plants can be accurately measured by adding a little phenolphthalein to the sea water, and observing changes in the color of the indicator. In the case of fresh water aquatics bicarbonates are added. By this method it is found that Ulva which has been kept in the dark begins photosynthesis as soon as it is exposed to sunlight and that the rate steadily increases until a constant speed is attained. This may be explained by assuming that sunlight decomposes a substance whose products either catalyze photosynthesis or enter directly into the reaction. Quantitative theories are developed in order to account for the facts.

PubMed Disclaimer