Final answer:
When you double the distance between a plant and its light source, the light intensity decreases to one quarter of the original value due to the inverse square law.
Step-by-step explanation:
Light intensity does indeed follow the inverse square law, which means that if you double the distance between a plant and its source of light, the light intensity drops significantly. Specifically, the intensity decreases to one quarter of its original value. This is because the light spreads out as it moves away from the source, covering a larger area, resulting in a decrease in intensity proportional to the square of the distance.
For example, imagine a light source that has an intensity of 2.4 W/m² at a distance of 2 meters. According to the inverse square law, if you double this distance to 4 meters, the new intensity would be 2.4 W/m² / 4, which is 0.6 W/m². Simply put, the new intensity is (1/2)² = 1/4 of the original intensity due to the doubling of the distance.
Light intensity follows the inverse square law. This means that when you double the distance between a plant and its source of light, the light intensity decreases to one-fourth of the original intensity.