Energy For Plants For Animals example essay topic

252 words
Photosynthesis When you and me eat, we find our food. When plants eat, they make their own food and energy. They make their food and energy through a process called photosynthesis. Through photosynthesis oxygen is also produced. Photosynthesis is 'a process in which green plants synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water... The reverse of this reaction provides energy for plants, for animals that eat plants, for animals that eat animals that eat plants' for animals that eat animals that eat animals that eat plants, etc.

(Levine 726) All humans rely on these plants to produce oxygen from photosynthesis. The presence of light and of the green pigment chlorophyll makes the change of carbon dioxide and water to glucose and oxygen possible. It was Jan Ingenhouz with Jean Senebier in Geneva that founded the basic gist of the theory of photosynthesis in plants. The first step of photosynthesis is the absorption of light by a chlorophyll molecule. 'The energy of the absorbed photon is transferred from one chlorophyll molecule to another until it reaches a site called a reaction center. The absorption serves two functions: The energy may be passed along to the chlorophyll system and used in photosynthesis and it protects the biological system from photochemical damage.

Photosynthesis, which occurs in the chloroplasts involves a number of steps catalyzed by enzymes. The chloroplasts contain chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotene's, electron carriers, and enzymes, and also have internal membranes.