What is Photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis is the process by which light energy is converted into chemical energy by organisms. Carbon dioxide and water are the raw
materials of this process. The light energy comes from the sun and its end products are oxygen and glucose. Since all plants depend on it, it is the most important amongst all the processes in plants. Photosynthesis is a complex process that occurs in algae, high plants, and phytoplankton and also on bacteria like cyan bacteria. The organisms of photosynthesis are referred to as autotrophy.
Process of photosynthesis:
The process of photosynthesis involves the conversion of sunlight energy by higher plants, bacteria, algae into sugar which is converted into ATP by cellular respiration, which is in all living things used as a fuel. The process of by which usable chemical energy is converted from unusable sunlight energy has its facilitation through a green pigment that is referred to as chlorophyll. Chloroplasts are organelles through which photosynthesis occurs. They are found in algae cells and plants. They contain chlorophyll which assists in converting sunlight energy into chemical energy.
The blue and red light from the visible light spectrum which is captured in the wavelength between 440 and 660 nanometers are used by the plant. When the green light is reflected it gives the plant a green color.
Chloroplast:
A typical plant may have chloroplasts numbering up to even 50. A chloroplast is made of three main membranes which include a smooth membrane on the outside which is very permeable to water, a smooth outer membrane which contains many integral membrane proteins which regulate the passage of small molecules like sugar, and lastly a thylakoid membrane system.
Photosynthesis process uses water and releases oxygen which is an important agent to the life of human beings and animals.The overall chemical reaction can be summarized as,
6H2O + 6CO2 + light → C6H12O6+ 6O2
6 molecules of water + 6 molecules of carbon dioxide + light goes through a conversion into 6 oxygen molecules and 1 molecule of glucose.
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