Photosynthesis
All living things need energy. Where does energy come from? Respiration.
Let's first recall the equation for respiration:
glucose + oxygen → carbon dioxide + water
Plants need energy too. It can get oxygen from the air - but where can it gets its glucose? We humans can get it from eating, but you plants can't - you don't see plants drinking red bull and going into Burger Kings, do you? Plants are producers - which means they make food themselves. How?
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is the process in which a green plant makes food, in this case glucose, with sunlight and carbon dioxide.
"Photo" means light, and "synthesis" means produce.
Here's the word equation:
light
carbon dioxide + water → glucose + oxygen
chlorophyll
(Why the 6 in 6CO2? Well, it's about balancing equations!)
Before you memorize anything, understand it first!
Different bits of photosynthesis
Carbon Dioxide and Water:
These are the inorganic compounds that will be used in to make glucose. Carbon Dioxide comes from the air, while water comes mainly from the soil, absorbed by the roots of a plant.
Light:
Of course, if you just mix carbon dioxide and water together, they won't become glucose. They need energy to bond together and become glucose. Light serves as the energy that bonds them together. Chlorophyll:
If we just shone light on carbon dioxide and water, they won't mix and become glucose - light needs to be trapped and concentrated and the compounds need to be processed in a very special place. This place is similar to a factory: it takes lots of different materials and produces something out. In plants, this "factory" is a green pigment that is called the chlorophyll. Plants have lots of them.
Chlorophyll is stored in chloroplasts which are in palisade cells in leaves (covered in another article in detail).
Oxygen:
A waste product that gets released in the process. Useful when doing experiment that requires the rate of photosynthesis measured because oxygen released means that the plant is undergoing photosynthesis. Also useful when an environment needs oxygen. Glucose:
Stored energy - light energy gets converted to chemical energy, which is glucose. Glucose has a lot of uses, which will be explored in another article. The Process
The chlorophyll absorbs light and releases the energy, and along with enzymes, causes carbon carbon dioxide and water to combine into glucose. This transfers light energy into chemical energy (glucose).
