Photosynthesis
All organisms in the plant kingdom are autotrophs/producers and therefore carry out photosynthesis. Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplast (figure 1) of plant cells which are concentrated predominantly in the leaves. The chloroplasts contain the green pigment chlorophyll, giving leaves their green color, and is responsible for capturing light energy to power photosynthesis.
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Figure 1
All living things need a few basic things to survive, we learned these things as the four basic needs of living things. Plants are no exception to this and require space, gases, food, and water like all other living organisms.
The two basic needs, water and gas are especially important for a plant to carry out photosynthesis. The water and gas makeup two of the three reactants of photosynthesis. The needed water (H2O) is absorbed from underground into the roots of the plant and is then transported to each cell by the vascular tissue xylem.
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Figure 2 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/ Photosynthesis.gif
Plants cannot carry out photosynthesis without carbon dioxide (CO2), the gas animals exhale. Plants take in CO2 and release O2 (the opposite of animals) by the process of transpiration (respiration in animals).
Although plants do not have lungs or lung-like structures, they do have small pores on the underside of their leaves that regulate transpiration. These pores are called stoma or stomata and allow CO2 and O2 to enter and exit the plant leaves. Each stoma is surrounded by two guard cells that open and close the stoma. Stomata remain open when the plant is in need of CO2, during photosynthesis, and closed during times of photosynthetic inactivity. You will be conducting a lab during which you will test when stomata tend to be open vs when they tend to be closed.
In addition to CO2 and H2O, plants must also have sunlight or light energy. As mentioned above, the light energy absorbed by the chlorophyll powers the process of photosynthesis. Sunlight is responsible for breaking the molecular bonds of the CO2 and H2O and then rearranging the atoms into the products of photosynthesis, glucose (C6H12O6) and oxygen (O2). Through photosynthesis, light energy is converted into stored energy, the glucose (food).
To summarize: Energy from the sun is converted into stored chemical energy or food called glucose in the plant cell by the process of photosynthesis. The green pigment- chlorophyll- is located in the chloroplast and captures the sunlight. The energy from the sun is then used to change the carbon dioxide and water into the sugar glucose and oxygen. Glucose is a sugar that is stored energy for later use.
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