Home

The Creators


Chemicals of Life

CellularRespiration

Photosynthesis

  - Introduction 
  - The Leaf Structure
  - The Process
  - Pigments
  - Photosynthesis Rate
  - Photosynthesis Test
  - Links

Transpiration

Human Respiration

Human Circulation

Human Digestion

Human Excretion


Biology Forum

Contributions

Feedback

Biology Links


Thinkquest Team 22016
Andrew Griffiths
Tim Sindle
Ben Harper


(Otherwise known as the subject with a really long name)

Introduction

Yes, its a long name. 14 letters in fact! But if you take a look at it, you'll see that the name is pretty self-explanitary.

Photo - like with cameras...ie light(the sun)
Synthesis - to make

So from the name - its all about using light to help make something. Yes, but its a bit more complicated than that. Photosynthesis is a process used by all green plants(we'll mainly be looking at plants) and some bacteria to produce food to use as energy. Its a chemical process, and its formula is:

From the formula above, you can see that Carbon Dioxide(CO2) and water in the plant is converted into Oxygen(O2) and carbohydrates(CH2O). The carbohydrates being the food - which will eventually be converted to energy to be used by the plant for various activities. Oxygen is given off as a by-product.
Photosynthesis happens in the leaves of plants, because the leaves have the green pigment - Chlorphyll which is used in the process. Chlorophyll is used for trapping and converting the light energy into chemical potential energy. This potential energy is used during respiration to do metabolic work, like - cell division, repair, growth.