A scientist follows this procedure to test whether plants have been performing photosynthesis. Place Plant X in a dark closet and Plant Y on a sunny windowsill. Wait several days, then remove a leaf from each plant. Boil leaves in alcohol to remove the chlorophyll. Add a chemical indicator that detects sugars. (Dark purple = sugars are present; dark orange = sugars are not present) What results will the scientist most likely obtain when placing drops of the indicator on the leaves?

1: Plant X: dark purple Plant Y: dark purple

2: Plant X: dark orange Plant Y: dark purple

3: Plant X: dark orange Plant Y: dark orange

4: Plant X: dark purple Plant Y: dark orange

2. Plant X: dark orange, Plant Y: dark purple

Explanation:

Two plants; plants X and Y were used in this experiment. Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants synthesize their food (sugar). Plants make use of the energy they capture from sunlight via their Chlorophyll pigment to power the photosynthetic process. Plants cannot perform the process of photosynthesis in the absence of sunlight i.e. No sunlight, No photosynthesis and ultimately no sugar.

In the case of this experiment, Plant X was placed in a dark closet while Plant Y was placed on a sunny windowsill. Due to the absence of light in the dark closet, plant X will be unable to photosynthesize and produce sugars while plant Y, due to its exposure to ample sunlight, would be able to produce sugars in its leaves via photosynthesis.

Therefore, since dark purple = sugars are present and dark orange = sugars are not present when tested with a chemical indicator, plant X's leaf will give a dark orange color because it produced no sugars in its leaves as it was unable to photosynthesize. Plant Y's leaf will give a dark purple color because it produced sugar in its leaves as a result of photosynthesis.