Explain photosynthesis in simple words?
Photosynthesis is a process that allows plants to turn carbon dioxide and water into food, using the sun’s energy. In essence, photosynthesis transforms light energy stored in food into chemical energy that all living things can use.
Photosynthesis is a natural process that helps convert an ‘inorganic’ compound (carbon dioxide) into an ‘organic’ one (food).
Photosynthesis is how plants use energy from the sun to make their food. The scientific name for photosynthesis is “carbon fixation”, which refers to the chemical reaction that uses CO2 and sunlight to convert carbon-based molecules like sugar into energy-rich sugars and starches.
Photosynthesis involves a series of chemical reactions in cells called chloroplasts present in plant leaves.
Chloroplasts contain chlorophyll, which gives them their green colour and enables them to absorb light from the sun.
Photosynthesis is how plants and other organisms use light to produce food. Photosynthesis is essential for all plant life because the process converts carbon dioxide into glucose, which can be used as an energy source for growth.
Photosynthesis occurs in most living organisms, including plants, bacteria, and protists. Some organisms, such as purple bacteria and cyanobacteria, employ anoxygenic photosynthesis, which is different from plants and most other photosynthetic organisms.
In photosynthesis, photons strike a reaction centre where they excite electrons. These electrons are promoted to a higher energy level. In turn, this energy is used to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (HO) to yield carbohydrates such as glucose:
CO2 + HO + Energy → CH2O + O2
Photosynthetic organisms also produce oxygen gas from water as part of the same process.
The minerals containing iron and manganese give them their green colour; this process takes place in a series of steps called the Calvin cycle.
Oxygen is a waste product of photosynthesis for many organisms; this waste is produced through carbon fixation or air capture. Oxygen is a toxic gas for most life on Earth (including humans), but it is essential.
Photosynthesis occurs in two stages. In the first stage, light energy from the sun is absorbed by chlorophyll inside plant cells.
This energy induces chemical reactions that convert water and carbon dioxide into simple sugars such as glucose.
These sugar molecules are then used as “fuel” to drive the organism’s metabolism, which produces a wide range of organic compounds necessary for survival.
The second stage involves the capture of carbon dioxide and its conversion into sugars, as described above.
Tannins
Tannins are naturally occurring polyphenols (or phenolic compounds) that form a large class of molecules with great diversity in structure, properties, and biological activity. More than 10,000 tannins are known, but only about 50 have been reported to occur in plants and lichens (where they may be called phlorotannins).
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