The statements given below are incorrect. Rewrite the correct statement by changing the underlined words of the statements:
The solvent used to dissolve the chlorophyll pigments while testing a leaf for starch is SODA LIME.
Topic: Methylated spirit
Answer
The solvent used to dissolve the chlorophyll pigments while testing a leaf for starch is METHYLATED SPIRIT (alcohol).
Chlorophyll is INSOLUBLE in water but SOLUBLE in alcohol, which is why the leaf is boiled in methylated spirit — to decolourise it so that the blue-black of the iodine test can be seen against a pale background.
SODA LIME is an ABSORBER of carbon dioxide, used in experiments to REMOVE that gas — much as potassium hydroxide is. It is a plausible substitution precisely because both appear in photosynthesis experiments, but they do quite different jobs.
THE SAFETY POINT examiners like: alcohol is INFLAMMABLE, so the leaf is heated in a WATER BATH and never directly over a flame.