photosynthesis

     

Photosynthesis is the conversion of light energy into chemical energy by living organisms. The raw materials are carbon ioxide and water; the energy source is sunlight; and the end-products are oxygen and (energy rich) carbohydrates, for example sucrose, glucose and starch. This process is arguably the most important biochemical pathway, since nearly all life on Earth either directly or indirectly depends on it. It is a complex process occurring in higher plants, algae, as well as bacteria such as cyanobacteria. Photosynthetic organisms are also referred to as photoautotrophs.

Trivia about photosynthesis

  • In a leaf this food-making process takes place in the palisade & spongy cells
  • In 1779 Dutch scientist Jan Ingenhousz published his discovery of this process in green plants
  • Julius von Sachs found that starch was a product of this process in green plants
  • As they have chlorophyll, algae produce food using this process
  • Chloroplasts are the sites within plants where this process changes light into chemical energy
  • The photic zone is the upper ocean layer, with enough sunlight to allow this plant process
  • In 1961 biochemist Melvin Calvin won a Nobel Prize for identifying the intermediate reactions during this plant process
  • This oxygen producing process in plants takes place only during daylight
  • In this process 8 photons of light break down 2 H2O molecules to yield an O2 molecule
  • Light energy becomes organic energy through this plant process
  • Algae make their own food from carbon dioxide & water by this process
  • Oceanic bacteria may convert sunlight to energy with this process, like plants
  • During this plant process, carbon dioxide & water combine with light energy to create oxygen & glucose
  • This reaction occurs in the chloroplasts, the oval-shaped green organelles in plants
  • Oxygen is a waste product of this metabolic process in green plants
  • In plants, respiration is the reciprocal & opposite process of this
  • A variety of Atlantic sea slug eats algae, retains some of it & can then undergo this plant process
  • A 1988 Nobel Prize was for unraveling a key molecule in this "most important chemical reaction in the biosphere"

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