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An educational game about photosynthesis for students and teachers. The game emphasizes the role of photosynthesis in both terrestrial and marine environments.

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This song is funny because of the pictures.

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Photosynthesis Rap (50 Cent - In Da Club)

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A song us four created for a biology project.

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Photosynthesis

It's not easy being green! In this BrainPOP movie, Tim and Moby discuss the process of photosynthesis! You'll find out how plants are helpful to humans, what makes plants green, and how plants make their own food. Learn what an important role the sun plays in photosynthesis; how solar energy is turned into chemical energy; and how plants create glucose, their main source of fuel. You'll also discover some important parts of a plant, including those that help make plant food. You know, not all plants say, "Feed me, Seymour!"

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Photosynthesis Lesson Plans and Lesson Ideas | BrainPOP Educators

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It's not easy being green! In this BrainPOP movie, Tim and Moby discuss the process of photosynthesis! You'll find out how plants are helpful to humans, what makes plants green, and how plants make their own food.

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download here - http://www.mediafire.com/?2nqk2cldnsx1nka -lyrics below Photosynthesis CHORUS yeah ah huh, you know what it is breaking down solar rays o2 stuntin yeah ah ah huh, you know what it is cleaning up Co2 it ain't nothin using water, air, and sunlight making cellulose photo-photo-photo-photo-photo photosynthesis the reason that's there's

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You have to make the right conditions for the plant to survive

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In this free online science interactive, students explore how a plant's environmental conditions affect its growth and development.

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Photosynthesis Style (Gangnam Style Parody)

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AP Biology Video Project Special Thanks to CrashCourse for photosynthesis animations. Find his channel here! http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse?feature=results_main Official Gangnam Style Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 Edit: 5/22/13 Wow! 3k Views. Thank you everyone!

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This guy teaches 6th grade science and writes songs for his students to study :)

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watch it

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Photosynthesis | Photosynthesis in plants | Photosynthesis - Biology basics for children | elearnin

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One Direction: What Makes You Beautiful Parody - WHAT MAKES GLYCOLYSIS!

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fun little video made for our uni metabolism course

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This show the process of Photosynthesis

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Photosynthesis Song to the tune of "Stitches"

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Uploaded by Ellie Van Curen on 2015-11-13.

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Photosynthesis song new and complete version

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Song from the Simple Science DVD and CD: 15 science topics set to original music and animation by Peter Weatherall, now available for free download from www.kidsinglish.com

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funny song

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(Image credit: KPG_Payless | Shutterstock)

Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. Here, we describe the general principles of photosynthesis and highlight how scientists are studying this natural process to help develop clean fuels and sources of renewable energy.

Types of photosynthesis

There are two types of photosynthetic processes: oxygenic photosynthesis and anoxygenic photosynthesis. The general principles of anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthesis are very similar, but oxygenic photosynthesis is the most common and is seen in plants, algae and cyanobacteria.

During oxygenic photosynthesis, light energy transfers electrons from water (H ₂O) to carbon dioxide (CO ₂), to produce carbohydrates. In this transfer, the CO ₂ is "reduced," or receives electrons, and the water becomes "oxidized," or loses electrons. Ultimately, oxygen is produced along with carbohydrates.

Oxygenic photosynthesis functions as a counterbalance to respiration by taking in the carbon dioxide produced by all breathing organisms and reintroducing oxygen to the atmosphere.

On the other hand, anoxygenic photosynthesis uses electron donors other than water. The process typically occurs in bacteria such as purple bacteria and green sulfur bacteria, which are primarily found in various aquatic habitats.

"Anoxygenic photosynthesis does not produce oxygen - hence the name," said David Baum, professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "What is produced depends on the electron donor. For example, many bacteria use the bad-eggs-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide, producing solid sulfur as a byproduct."

Though both types of photosynthesis are complex, multistep affairs, the overall process can be neatly summarized as a chemical equation.

Oxygenic photosynthesis is written as follows:

Here, six molecules of carbon dioxide (CO ₂) combine with 12 molecules of water (H ₂O) using light energy. The end result is the formation of a single carbohydrate molecule (C ₆H ₁₂O ₆, or glucose) along with six molecules each of breathable oxygen and water.

Similarly, the various anoxygenic photosynthesis reactions can be represented as a single generalized formula:

The letter A in the equation is a variable and H ₂A represents the potential electron donor. For example, A may represent sulfur in the electron donor hydrogen sulfide (H ₂S), explained Govindjee and John Whitmarsh, plant biologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the book " Concepts in Photobiology: Photosynthesis and Photomorphogenesis" (Narosa Publishers and Kluwer Academic, 1999).

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The photosynthetic apparatus

The following are cellular components essential to photosynthesis.
Pigments
Pigments are molecules that bestow color on plants, algae and bacteria, but they are also responsible for effectively trapping sunlight. Pigments of different colors absorb different wavelengths of light. Below are the three main groups.

Chlorophylls: These green-colored pigments are capable of trapping blue and red light. Chlorophylls have three subtypes, dubbed chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and chlorophyll c. According to Eugene Rabinowitch and Govindjee in their book "Photosynthesis"(Wiley, 1969), chlorophyll a is found in all photosynthesizing plants. There is also a bacterial variant aptly named bacteriochlorophyll, which absorbs infrared light. This pigment is mainly seen in purple and green bacteria, which perform anoxygenic photosynthesis.

Carotenoids: These red, orange or yellow-colored pigments absorb bluish-green light. Examples of carotenoids are xanthophyll (yellow) and carotene (orange) from which carrots get their color.

Phycobilins: These red or blue pigments absorb wavelengths of light that are not as well absorbed by chlorophylls and carotenoids. They are seen in cyanobacteria and red algae.

Plastids
Photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms contain organelles called plastids in their cytoplasm. The double-membraned plastids in plants and algae are referred to as primary plastids, while the multiple-membraned variety found in plankton are called secondary plastids, according to an articlein the journal Nature Education by Cheong Xin Chan and Debashish Bhattacharya, researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Plastids generally contain pigments or can store nutrients. Colorless and nonpigmented leucoplasts store fats and starch, while chromoplasts contain carotenoids and chloroplasts contain chlorophyll, as explained in Geoffrey Cooper's book, " The Cell: A Molecular Approach" (Sinauer Associates, 2000).

Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts; specifically, in the grana and stroma regions. The grana is the innermost portion of the organelle; a collection of disc-shaped membranes, stacked into columns like plates. The individual discs are called thylakoids. It is here that the transfer of electrons takes place. The empty spaces between columns of grana constitute the stroma.

Chloroplasts are similar to mitochondria, the energy centers of cells, in that they have their own genome, or collection of genes, contained within circular DNA. These genes encode proteins essential to the organelle and to photosynthesis. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts are also thought to have originated from primitive bacterial cells through the process of endosymbiosis.

"Plastids originated from engulfed photosynthetic bacteria that were acquired by a single-celled eukaryotic cell more than a billion years ago," Baum told Live Science. Baum explained that the analysis of chloroplast genes shows that it was once a member of the group cyanobacteria, "the one group of bacteria that can accomplish oxygenic photosynthesis."

In their 2010 article, Chan and Bhattacharya make the point that the formation of secondary plastids cannot be well explained by endosymbiosis of cyanobacteria, and that the origins of this class of plastids are still a matter of debate.
Antennae
Pigment molecules are associated with proteins, which allow them the flexibility to move toward light and toward one another. A large collection of 100 to 5,000 pigment molecules constitutes "antennae," according to an article by Wim Vermaas, a professor at Arizona State University. These structures effectively capture light energy from the sun, in the form of photons.

Ultimately, light energy must be transferred to a pigment-protein complex that can convert it to chemical energy, in the form of electrons. In plants, for example, light energy is transferred to chlorophyll pigments. The conversion to chemical energy is accomplished when a chlorophyll pigment expels an electron, which can then move on to an appropriate recipient.
Reaction centers
The pigments and proteins, which convert light energy to chemical energy and begin the process of electron transfer, are known as reaction centers.

The photosynthetic process

The reactions of plant photosynthesis are divided into those that require the presence of sunlight and those that do not. Both types of reactions take place in chloroplasts: light-dependent reactions in the thylakoid and light-independent reactions in the stroma.

Light-dependent reactions (also called light reactions): When a photon of light hits the reaction center, a pigment molecule such as chlorophyll releases an electron.

"The trick to do useful work, is to prevent that electron from finding its way back to its original home," Baum told Live Science. "This is not easily avoided, because the chlorophyll now has an 'electron hole' that tends to pull on nearby electrons."

The released electron manages to escape by traveling through an electron transport chain, which generates the energy needed to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate, a source of chemical energy for cells) and NADPH. The "electron hole" in the original chlorophyll pigment is filled by taking an electron from water. As a result, oxygen is released into the atmosphere.

Light-independent reactions (also called dark reactions and known as the Calvin cycle): Light reactions produce ATP and NADPH, which are the rich energy sources that drive dark reactions. Three chemical reaction steps make up the Calvin cycle: carbon fixation, reduction and regeneration. These reactions use water and catalysts. The carbon atoms from carbon dioxide are "fixed," when they are built into organic molecules that ultimately form three-carbon sugars. These sugars are then used to make glucose or are recycled to initiate the Calvin cycle again.

(Image credit: PNNL, QuickBird satellite)

Photosynthesis in the future

Photosynthetic organisms are a possible means to generate clean-burning fuels such as hydrogen or even methane. Recently, a research group at the University of Turku in Finland, tapped into the ability of green algae to produce hydrogen. Green algae can produce hydrogen for a few seconds if they are first exposed to dark, anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions and then exposed to light The team devised a way to extend green algae's hydrogen production for up to three days, as reported in their 2018 study published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

Scientists have also made advances in the field of artificial photosynthesis. For instance, a group of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, developed an artificial system to capture carbon dioxide using nanowires, or wires that are a few billionths of a meter in diameter. The wires feed into a system of microbes that reduce carbon dioxide into fuels or polymers by using energy from sunlight. The team published its design in 2015 in the journal Nano Letters.

In 2016, members of this same group published a study in the journal Science that described another artificial photosynthetic system in which specially engineered bacteria were used to create liquid fuels using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. In general, plants are only able to harness about one percent of solar energy and use it to produce organic compounds during photosynthesis. In contrast, the researchers' artificial system was able to harness 10 percent of solar energy to produce organic compounds.

Continued research of natural processes, such as photosynthesis, aids scientists in developing new ways to utilize various sources of renewable energy. Seeing as sunlight, plants and bacteria are all ubiquitous, tapping into the power of photosynthesis is a logical step for creating clean-burning and carbon-neutral fuels.
Additional resources:

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(Image credit: KPG_Payless | Shutterstock) Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. Here, we describe the general principles of photosynthesis and highlight how scientists are studying this natural process to help develop clean fuels and sources of renewable energy.

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Not all of the light from the Sun makes it to the surface of the Earth. Even the light that does make it here is reflected and spread out. The little light that does make it here is enough for the plants of the world to survive and go through the process of photosynthesis. Light is actually energy, electromagnetic energy to be exact. When that energy gets to a green plant, all sorts of reactions can take place to store energy in the form of sugar molecules.

Remember we said that not all the energy from the Sun makes it to plants? Even when light gets to a plant, the plant doesn't use all of it. It actually uses only certain colors to make photosynthesis happen. Plants mostly absorb red and blue wavelengths. When you see a color, it is actually a color that the object does NOT absorb. In the case of green plants, they do not absorb light from the green range.

We already spoke about the structure of chloroplasts in the cells tutorials. We want to reinforce that photosynthesis happens in the chloroplast. Within this cell organelle is the chlorophyll that captures the light from the Sun. We'll talk about it in a bit, but the chloroplasts are working night and day with different jobs. The molecules are moved and converted in the area called the stroma.

Chlorophyll is the magic compound that can grab that sunlight and start the whole process. Chlorophyll is actually quite a varied compound. There are four (4) types: a, b, c, and d. Chlorophyll can also be found in many microorganisms and even some prokaryotic cells. However, as far as plants are concerned, the chlorophyll is found in the chloroplasts. The other big molecules are water (H ₂O), carbon dioxide (CO ₂), oxygen (O ₂) and glucose (C ₆H ₁₂O ₆). Carbon dioxide and water combine with light to create oxygen and glucose. That glucose is used in various forms by every creature on the planet. Animal cells require oxygen to survive. Animal cells need an aerobic environment (one with oxygen).

The whole process doesn't happen all at one time. The process of photosynthesis is divided into two main parts. The first part is called the light dependent reaction. This reaction happens when the light energy is captured and pushed into a chemical called ATP. The second part of the process happens when the ATP is used to make glucose (the Calvin Cycle). That second part is called the light independent reaction.

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Not all of the light from the Sun makes it to the surface of the Earth. Even the light that does make it here is reflected and spread out. The little light that does make it here is enough for the plants of the world to survive and go through the process of photosynthesis.

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Peminat judi online semakin banyak jumlahnya. Banyak para pemain judi bermain game perjudian demi mendapatkan keuntungan sebesar-besarnya. Bukan hanya itu...

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Jerome Edgar Fast AF | Joshua Kyan Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall

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Glucose On That Beat (JuJu On That Beat Parody) Photosynthesis Rap | Joshua Kyan CRINGE

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Ladies and gentlemen, this was my biology project.... And so, I better get an A on this Mr. Mac PLEASE! This is a Juju on that beat remake into some sort of cringe biology photosynthesis rap.. I can't rap....

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crash course

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lol

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Photosynthesis Style (Gangnam Style Parody)

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AP Biology Video Project Special Thanks to CrashCourse for photosynthesis animations. Find his channel here! http://www.youtube.com/user/crashcourse?feature=results_main Official Gangnam Style Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0 Edit: 5/22/13 Wow! 3k Views. Thank you everyone!

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crash course kids

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this is full of facts

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Taylor Swift I Knew You Were Trouble: Photosynthesis Song with Lyrics

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Once upon a time in a chloroplast The sun split some water And excited an electron In the thylakoid The thylakoid The thylakoid membrane membrane It's sent to PS 2 And down the ETC To Photosystem 1 And loses energy H plus come in H plus come in H plus

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This video is based of of a song written by Michael Jackson!!!!

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Photosynthesis Song ("Thriller") - By Ben Leddy

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Taylor Swift I Knew You Were Trouble: Photosynthesis Song with Lyrics

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Once upon a time in a chloroplast The sun split some water And excited an electron In the thylakoid The thylakoid The thylakoid membrane membrane It's sent to PS 2 And down the ETC To Photosystem 1 And loses energy H plus come in H plus come in H plus

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bill nye video

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This game by brain pop really makes you think about all the research we've been doing lately.

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In this free online science interactive, students explore how a plant's environmental conditions affect its growth and development.

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http/:www.youtube.com/potosynthesis song

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taylor swift photosynthesis song

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Taylor Swift I Knew You Were Trouble: Photosynthesis Song with Lyrics

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Once upon a time in a chloroplast The sun split some water And excited an electron In the thylakoid The thylakoid The thylakoid membrane membrane It's sent to PS 2 And down the ETC To Photosystem 1 And loses energy H plus come in H plus come in H plus

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Photosynthesis is a process in which green plants use energy from the sun to transform water, carbon dioxide, and minerals into oxygen and organic compounds. It is one example of how people and plants are dependent on each other in sustaining life.

Photosynthesis happens when water is absorbed by the roots of green plants and is carried to the leaves by the xylem, and carbon dioxide is obtained from air that enters the leaves through the stomata and diffuses to the cells containing chlorophyll. The green pigment chlorophyll is uniquely capable of converting the active energy of light into a latent form that can be stored (in food) and used when needed.

Photosynthesis provides us with most of the oxygen we need in order to breathe. We, in turn, exhale the carbon dioxide needed by plants. Plants are also crucial to human life because we rely on them as a source of food for ourselves and for the animals that we eat.

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Photosynthesis is a process in which green plants use energy from the sun to transform water, carbon dioxide, and minerals into oxygen and organic compounds. It is one example of how people and plants are dependent on each other in sustaining life.

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This article really shows what glucose is and helps clear fuzzy parts in your brain about glucose. A real "brain duster".

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Sandi Busch

Sandi Busch received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology, then pursued training in nursing and nutrition. She taught families to plan and prepare special diets, worked as a therapeutic support specialist, and now writes about her favorite topics - nutrition, food, families and parenting - for hospitals and trade magazines.

Your body thrives on glucose, which is the sugar it uses to synthesize energy. Carbohydrates supply glucose and other sugars that are converted into glucose. But it's such a vital source of energy that the body has a back-up system called gluconeogenesis. This metabolic pathway produces new glucose from noncarbohydrate sources.

Video of the Day

Carbohydrates are made from molecules of sugar connected together. Simple sugars consist of one to three sugar molecules, while starches contain hundreds to thousands of molecules, reports Colorado State University.

The small intestine only absorbs single sugar molecules, which is why digestive enzymes break carbs down into the three monosaccharides: glucose, galactose and fructose. The monosaccharides travel to the liver, where glucose is generated when the liver turns galactose and fructose into glucose.

The liver may send glucose into the bloodstream, where it's transported to cells that need it for energy. If blood levels of glucose are high enough to meet your energy needs, the liver stores glucose by turning it into glycogen or fat.

When the body produces glucose from something other than carbohydrates, the process is called gluconeogenesis. Most gluconeogenesis occurs in the liver, but a small amount also takes place in the kidneys and small intestine.

Like carbs, fats and proteins are digested into smaller units. Glycerol from fats and amino acids from proteins may be used to make glucose. All amino acids except leucine and lysine can enter the gluconeogenesis pathway, but glutamine is the only one used in the kidneys and small intestine, according to Medical Biochemistry Page.

Lactate is another substance used to synthesize new glucose. The boost in energy metabolism during intense exercise results in the production of lactate. Some of it travels through the bloodstream to the liver, where it's converted into glucose.

Glucose production relies on a variety of nutrients, but biotin is one of the most important for gluconeogenesis. Biotin is needed to make the enzyme that triggers the first step of gluconeogenesis in the liver.

Three other B vitamins -- thiamin, pantothenic acid and vitamin B-6 -- are also essential. Thiamin and pantothenic acid help synthesize acetyl-coenzyme A, which has a significant role in gluconeogenesis. Vitamin B-6 is used to make an enzyme needed to turn amino acids into glucose.

Eating a balanced diet is always the best way to get nutrients. That's especially true when it comes to supporting gluconeogenesis because the B vitamins come from different sources.

Pork, fish, beef, chicken, eggs and whole grains are good sources of thiamin, biotin and pantothenic acid. You'll also get thiamin from beans, squash and sunflower seeds. The best choices for vitamin B-6 include chicken, salmon, potatoes, spinach and bananas.

In supplemental form, thiamin, biotin and pantothenic acid are considered safe and not likely to cause any side effects. Vitamin B-6 supplements may cause pain and numbness in the arms and legs, but it takes at least 200 times more than the normal recommended intake to cause side effects, according to the Linus Pauling Institute.

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Your body thrives on glucose, which is the sugar it uses to synthesize energy. Carbohydrates supply glucose and other sugars that are converted into glucose. But it's such a vital source of energy that the body has a back-up system called gluconeogenesis. This metabolic pathway produces new glucose from noncarbohydrate sources.

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This video is complex but all in all it helps with the close up of photosynthesis through a plant.

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this games is pretty fun and helps me

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Video computer games, virtual labs and activities for learning and reviewing biology content. Great for students and teachers.

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This song gives a lot of imformation about the process of photosynthesis

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What is Photosynthesis?

The word photosynthesis can be separated to make two smaller words:

"photo" which means light

"synthesis" which means putting together

Plants need food but they do not have to wait on people or animals to provide for them. Most plants are able to make their own food whenever they need it. This is done using light and the process is called photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants make their own food. We will add more details to this definition after making a few things clear as you will see below.

What is needed for Photosynthesis?

To make food, plants need not just one but all of the following:

Let's take a look at how these are collected by plants.

Carbon dioxide from the air passes through small pores (holes) in the leaves. These pores are called stomata.

Water is absorbed by the roots and passes through vessels in the stem on its way to the leaves.

Sunlight is absorbed by a green chemical in the leaves.

What happens during Photosynthesis?

The photosynthesis process takes place in the leaves of plants. The leaves are made up of very small cells. Inside these cells are tiny structures called chloroplasts. Each chloroplast contains a green chemical called chlorophyll which gives leaves their green color.

Chlorophyll absorbs the sun's energy.

It is this energy that is used to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

Oxygen is released from the leaves into the atmosphere.

Hydrogen and carbon dioxide are used to form glucose or food for plants.

Some of the glucose is used to provide energy for the growth and development of plants while the rest is stored in leaves, roots or fruits for later use by plants.

Here is the process in greater detail:

Photosynthesis occurs in two stages commonly known as Light dependent Reactions and the Calvin Cycle.
Light dependent Reactions
Light dependent reactions occur in the thylakoid membrane of the chloroplasts and take place only when light is available. During these reactions light energy is converted to chemical energy.

Chlorophyll and other pigments absorb energy from sunlight. This energy is transferred to the photosystems responsible for photosynthesis.

Water is used to provide electrons and hydrogen ions but also produces oxygen. Do you remember what happens to the oxygen?

The electrons and hydrogen ions are used to create ATP and NADPH. ATP is an energy storage molecule. NADPH is an electron carrier/donor molecule. Both ATP and NADPH will be used in the next stage of photosynthesis.

Details about the flow of electrons through Photosystem II, b6-f complex, Photosystem I and NADP reductase have not been included here but can be found under The Process of Photosynthesis in Plants.
The Calvin Cycle
The Calvin Cycle reactions occur in the stroma of the chloroplasts. Although these reactions can take place without light, the process requires ATP and NADPH which were created using light in the first stage. Carbon dioxide and energy from ATP along with NADPH are used to form glucose.

More details about the formation of sugars can be found under the Process of Photosynthesis in Plants.

What have you learned so far?

You already know that plants need carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to make their food. You also know that the food they make is called glucose. In addition to glucose, plants also produce oxygen. This information can be written in a word equation as shown below.

The equation below is the same as the one above but it shows the chemical formula for carbon dioxide, water, glucose and oxygen.

Now back to the definition... Earlier you learned that photosynthesis is the process by which plants make their own food. Now that we know what plants need to make food, we can add that information as shown below.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants make their own food using carbon dioxide, water and sunlight.
What does Photosynthesis produce?

Photosynthesis is important because it provides two main things:

Some of the glucose that plants produce during photosynthesis is stored in fruits and roots. This is why we are able to eat carrots, potatoes, apples, water melons and all the others. These foods provide energy for humans and animals.

Oxygen that is produced during photosynthesis is released into the atmosphere. This oxygen is what we breathe and we cannot live without it.

While it is important that photosynthesis provides food and oxygen, its impact on our daily lives is far more extensive. Photosynthesis is so essential to life on earth that most living organisms, including humans, cannot survive without it.

All of our energy for growth, development and physical activity comes from eating food from plants and animals. Animals obtain energy from eating plants. Plants obtain energy from glucose made during photosynthesis.

Our major sources of energy such as natural gas, coal and oil were made millions of years ago from the remains of dead plants and animals which we already know got their energy from photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is also responsible for balancing oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen during the process of photosynthesis.

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The word photosynthesis can be separated to make two smaller words: "photo" which means light "synthesis" which means putting together Plants need food but they do not have to wait on people or animals to provide for them. Most plants are able to make their own food whenever they need it.

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This post by Live Science (Planet Earth really helped me with the exact description and types of photosynthesis to really expand my understanding.

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(Image credit: KPG_Payless | Shutterstock)

Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. Here, we describe the general principles of photosynthesis and highlight how scientists are studying this natural process to help develop clean fuels and sources of renewable energy.

Types of photosynthesis

There are two types of photosynthetic processes: oxygenic photosynthesis and anoxygenic photosynthesis. The general principles of anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthesis are very similar, but oxygenic photosynthesis is the most common and is seen in plants, algae and cyanobacteria.

During oxygenic photosynthesis, light energy transfers electrons from water (H ₂O) to carbon dioxide (CO ₂), to produce carbohydrates. In this transfer, the CO ₂ is "reduced," or receives electrons, and the water becomes "oxidized," or loses electrons. Ultimately, oxygen is produced along with carbohydrates.

Oxygenic photosynthesis functions as a counterbalance to respiration by taking in the carbon dioxide produced by all breathing organisms and reintroducing oxygen to the atmosphere.

On the other hand, anoxygenic photosynthesis uses electron donors other than water. The process typically occurs in bacteria such as purple bacteria and green sulfur bacteria, which are primarily found in various aquatic habitats.

"Anoxygenic photosynthesis does not produce oxygen - hence the name," said David Baum, professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "What is produced depends on the electron donor. For example, many bacteria use the bad-eggs-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide, producing solid sulfur as a byproduct."

Though both types of photosynthesis are complex, multistep affairs, the overall process can be neatly summarized as a chemical equation.

Oxygenic photosynthesis is written as follows:

Here, six molecules of carbon dioxide (CO ₂) combine with 12 molecules of water (H ₂O) using light energy. The end result is the formation of a single carbohydrate molecule (C ₆H ₁₂O ₆, or glucose) along with six molecules each of breathable oxygen and water.

Similarly, the various anoxygenic photosynthesis reactions can be represented as a single generalized formula:

The letter A in the equation is a variable and H ₂A represents the potential electron donor. For example, A may represent sulfur in the electron donor hydrogen sulfide (H ₂S), explained Govindjee and John Whitmarsh, plant biologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the book " Concepts in Photobiology: Photosynthesis and Photomorphogenesis" (Narosa Publishers and Kluwer Academic, 1999).

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The photosynthetic apparatus

The following are cellular components essential to photosynthesis.
Pigments
Pigments are molecules that bestow color on plants, algae and bacteria, but they are also responsible for effectively trapping sunlight. Pigments of different colors absorb different wavelengths of light. Below are the three main groups.

Chlorophylls: These green-colored pigments are capable of trapping blue and red light. Chlorophylls have three subtypes, dubbed chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and chlorophyll c. According to Eugene Rabinowitch and Govindjee in their book "Photosynthesis"(Wiley, 1969), chlorophyll a is found in all photosynthesizing plants. There is also a bacterial variant aptly named bacteriochlorophyll, which absorbs infrared light. This pigment is mainly seen in purple and green bacteria, which perform anoxygenic photosynthesis.

Carotenoids: These red, orange or yellow-colored pigments absorb bluish-green light. Examples of carotenoids are xanthophyll (yellow) and carotene (orange) from which carrots get their color.

Phycobilins: These red or blue pigments absorb wavelengths of light that are not as well absorbed by chlorophylls and carotenoids. They are seen in cyanobacteria and red algae.

Plastids
Photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms contain organelles called plastids in their cytoplasm. The double-membraned plastids in plants and algae are referred to as primary plastids, while the multiple-membraned variety found in plankton are called secondary plastids, according to an articlein the journal Nature Education by Cheong Xin Chan and Debashish Bhattacharya, researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Plastids generally contain pigments or can store nutrients. Colorless and nonpigmented leucoplasts store fats and starch, while chromoplasts contain carotenoids and chloroplasts contain chlorophyll, as explained in Geoffrey Cooper's book, " The Cell: A Molecular Approach" (Sinauer Associates, 2000).

Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts; specifically, in the grana and stroma regions. The grana is the innermost portion of the organelle; a collection of disc-shaped membranes, stacked into columns like plates. The individual discs are called thylakoids. It is here that the transfer of electrons takes place. The empty spaces between columns of grana constitute the stroma.

Chloroplasts are similar to mitochondria, the energy centers of cells, in that they have their own genome, or collection of genes, contained within circular DNA. These genes encode proteins essential to the organelle and to photosynthesis. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts are also thought to have originated from primitive bacterial cells through the process of endosymbiosis.

"Plastids originated from engulfed photosynthetic bacteria that were acquired by a single-celled eukaryotic cell more than a billion years ago," Baum told Live Science. Baum explained that the analysis of chloroplast genes shows that it was once a member of the group cyanobacteria, "the one group of bacteria that can accomplish oxygenic photosynthesis."

In their 2010 article, Chan and Bhattacharya make the point that the formation of secondary plastids cannot be well explained by endosymbiosis of cyanobacteria, and that the origins of this class of plastids are still a matter of debate.
Antennae
Pigment molecules are associated with proteins, which allow them the flexibility to move toward light and toward one another. A large collection of 100 to 5,000 pigment molecules constitutes "antennae," according to an article by Wim Vermaas, a professor at Arizona State University. These structures effectively capture light energy from the sun, in the form of photons.

Ultimately, light energy must be transferred to a pigment-protein complex that can convert it to chemical energy, in the form of electrons. In plants, for example, light energy is transferred to chlorophyll pigments. The conversion to chemical energy is accomplished when a chlorophyll pigment expels an electron, which can then move on to an appropriate recipient.
Reaction centers
The pigments and proteins, which convert light energy to chemical energy and begin the process of electron transfer, are known as reaction centers.

The photosynthetic process

The reactions of plant photosynthesis are divided into those that require the presence of sunlight and those that do not. Both types of reactions take place in chloroplasts: light-dependent reactions in the thylakoid and light-independent reactions in the stroma.

Light-dependent reactions (also called light reactions): When a photon of light hits the reaction center, a pigment molecule such as chlorophyll releases an electron.

"The trick to do useful work, is to prevent that electron from finding its way back to its original home," Baum told Live Science. "This is not easily avoided, because the chlorophyll now has an 'electron hole' that tends to pull on nearby electrons."

The released electron manages to escape by traveling through an electron transport chain, which generates the energy needed to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate, a source of chemical energy for cells) and NADPH. The "electron hole" in the original chlorophyll pigment is filled by taking an electron from water. As a result, oxygen is released into the atmosphere.

Light-independent reactions (also called dark reactions and known as the Calvin cycle): Light reactions produce ATP and NADPH, which are the rich energy sources that drive dark reactions. Three chemical reaction steps make up the Calvin cycle: carbon fixation, reduction and regeneration. These reactions use water and catalysts. The carbon atoms from carbon dioxide are "fixed," when they are built into organic molecules that ultimately form three-carbon sugars. These sugars are then used to make glucose or are recycled to initiate the Calvin cycle again.

(Image credit: PNNL, QuickBird satellite)

Photosynthesis in the future

Photosynthetic organisms are a possible means to generate clean-burning fuels such as hydrogen or even methane. Recently, a research group at the University of Turku in Finland, tapped into the ability of green algae to produce hydrogen. Green algae can produce hydrogen for a few seconds if they are first exposed to dark, anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions and then exposed to light The team devised a way to extend green algae's hydrogen production for up to three days, as reported in their 2018 study published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

Scientists have also made advances in the field of artificial photosynthesis. For instance, a group of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, developed an artificial system to capture carbon dioxide using nanowires, or wires that are a few billionths of a meter in diameter. The wires feed into a system of microbes that reduce carbon dioxide into fuels or polymers by using energy from sunlight. The team published its design in 2015 in the journal Nano Letters.

In 2016, members of this same group published a study in the journal Science that described another artificial photosynthetic system in which specially engineered bacteria were used to create liquid fuels using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. In general, plants are only able to harness about one percent of solar energy and use it to produce organic compounds during photosynthesis. In contrast, the researchers' artificial system was able to harness 10 percent of solar energy to produce organic compounds.

Continued research of natural processes, such as photosynthesis, aids scientists in developing new ways to utilize various sources of renewable energy. Seeing as sunlight, plants and bacteria are all ubiquitous, tapping into the power of photosynthesis is a logical step for creating clean-burning and carbon-neutral fuels.
Additional resources:

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(Image credit: KPG_Payless | Shutterstock) Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. Here, we describe the general principles of photosynthesis and highlight how scientists are studying this natural process to help develop clean fuels and sources of renewable energy.

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this picture helped me know what photosynthesis is.

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(Image credit: KPG_Payless | Shutterstock)

Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. Here, we describe the general principles of photosynthesis and highlight how scientists are studying this natural process to help develop clean fuels and sources of renewable energy.

Types of photosynthesis

There are two types of photosynthetic processes: oxygenic photosynthesis and anoxygenic photosynthesis. The general principles of anoxygenic and oxygenic photosynthesis are very similar, but oxygenic photosynthesis is the most common and is seen in plants, algae and cyanobacteria.

During oxygenic photosynthesis, light energy transfers electrons from water (H ₂O) to carbon dioxide (CO ₂), to produce carbohydrates. In this transfer, the CO ₂ is "reduced," or receives electrons, and the water becomes "oxidized," or loses electrons. Ultimately, oxygen is produced along with carbohydrates.

Oxygenic photosynthesis functions as a counterbalance to respiration by taking in the carbon dioxide produced by all breathing organisms and reintroducing oxygen to the atmosphere.

On the other hand, anoxygenic photosynthesis uses electron donors other than water. The process typically occurs in bacteria such as purple bacteria and green sulfur bacteria, which are primarily found in various aquatic habitats.

"Anoxygenic photosynthesis does not produce oxygen - hence the name," said David Baum, professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "What is produced depends on the electron donor. For example, many bacteria use the bad-eggs-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide, producing solid sulfur as a byproduct."

Though both types of photosynthesis are complex, multistep affairs, the overall process can be neatly summarized as a chemical equation.

Oxygenic photosynthesis is written as follows:

Here, six molecules of carbon dioxide (CO ₂) combine with 12 molecules of water (H ₂O) using light energy. The end result is the formation of a single carbohydrate molecule (C ₆H ₁₂O ₆, or glucose) along with six molecules each of breathable oxygen and water.

Similarly, the various anoxygenic photosynthesis reactions can be represented as a single generalized formula:

The letter A in the equation is a variable and H ₂A represents the potential electron donor. For example, A may represent sulfur in the electron donor hydrogen sulfide (H ₂S), explained Govindjee and John Whitmarsh, plant biologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the book " Concepts in Photobiology: Photosynthesis and Photomorphogenesis" (Narosa Publishers and Kluwer Academic, 1999).

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The photosynthetic apparatus

The following are cellular components essential to photosynthesis.
Pigments
Pigments are molecules that bestow color on plants, algae and bacteria, but they are also responsible for effectively trapping sunlight. Pigments of different colors absorb different wavelengths of light. Below are the three main groups.

Chlorophylls: These green-colored pigments are capable of trapping blue and red light. Chlorophylls have three subtypes, dubbed chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and chlorophyll c. According to Eugene Rabinowitch and Govindjee in their book "Photosynthesis"(Wiley, 1969), chlorophyll a is found in all photosynthesizing plants. There is also a bacterial variant aptly named bacteriochlorophyll, which absorbs infrared light. This pigment is mainly seen in purple and green bacteria, which perform anoxygenic photosynthesis.

Carotenoids: These red, orange or yellow-colored pigments absorb bluish-green light. Examples of carotenoids are xanthophyll (yellow) and carotene (orange) from which carrots get their color.

Phycobilins: These red or blue pigments absorb wavelengths of light that are not as well absorbed by chlorophylls and carotenoids. They are seen in cyanobacteria and red algae.

Plastids
Photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms contain organelles called plastids in their cytoplasm. The double-membraned plastids in plants and algae are referred to as primary plastids, while the multiple-membraned variety found in plankton are called secondary plastids, according to an articlein the journal Nature Education by Cheong Xin Chan and Debashish Bhattacharya, researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Plastids generally contain pigments or can store nutrients. Colorless and nonpigmented leucoplasts store fats and starch, while chromoplasts contain carotenoids and chloroplasts contain chlorophyll, as explained in Geoffrey Cooper's book, " The Cell: A Molecular Approach" (Sinauer Associates, 2000).

Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts; specifically, in the grana and stroma regions. The grana is the innermost portion of the organelle; a collection of disc-shaped membranes, stacked into columns like plates. The individual discs are called thylakoids. It is here that the transfer of electrons takes place. The empty spaces between columns of grana constitute the stroma.

Chloroplasts are similar to mitochondria, the energy centers of cells, in that they have their own genome, or collection of genes, contained within circular DNA. These genes encode proteins essential to the organelle and to photosynthesis. Like mitochondria, chloroplasts are also thought to have originated from primitive bacterial cells through the process of endosymbiosis.

"Plastids originated from engulfed photosynthetic bacteria that were acquired by a single-celled eukaryotic cell more than a billion years ago," Baum told Live Science. Baum explained that the analysis of chloroplast genes shows that it was once a member of the group cyanobacteria, "the one group of bacteria that can accomplish oxygenic photosynthesis."

In their 2010 article, Chan and Bhattacharya make the point that the formation of secondary plastids cannot be well explained by endosymbiosis of cyanobacteria, and that the origins of this class of plastids are still a matter of debate.
Antennae
Pigment molecules are associated with proteins, which allow them the flexibility to move toward light and toward one another. A large collection of 100 to 5,000 pigment molecules constitutes "antennae," according to an article by Wim Vermaas, a professor at Arizona State University. These structures effectively capture light energy from the sun, in the form of photons.

Ultimately, light energy must be transferred to a pigment-protein complex that can convert it to chemical energy, in the form of electrons. In plants, for example, light energy is transferred to chlorophyll pigments. The conversion to chemical energy is accomplished when a chlorophyll pigment expels an electron, which can then move on to an appropriate recipient.
Reaction centers
The pigments and proteins, which convert light energy to chemical energy and begin the process of electron transfer, are known as reaction centers.

The photosynthetic process

The reactions of plant photosynthesis are divided into those that require the presence of sunlight and those that do not. Both types of reactions take place in chloroplasts: light-dependent reactions in the thylakoid and light-independent reactions in the stroma.

Light-dependent reactions (also called light reactions): When a photon of light hits the reaction center, a pigment molecule such as chlorophyll releases an electron.

"The trick to do useful work, is to prevent that electron from finding its way back to its original home," Baum told Live Science. "This is not easily avoided, because the chlorophyll now has an 'electron hole' that tends to pull on nearby electrons."

The released electron manages to escape by traveling through an electron transport chain, which generates the energy needed to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate, a source of chemical energy for cells) and NADPH. The "electron hole" in the original chlorophyll pigment is filled by taking an electron from water. As a result, oxygen is released into the atmosphere.

Light-independent reactions (also called dark reactions and known as the Calvin cycle): Light reactions produce ATP and NADPH, which are the rich energy sources that drive dark reactions. Three chemical reaction steps make up the Calvin cycle: carbon fixation, reduction and regeneration. These reactions use water and catalysts. The carbon atoms from carbon dioxide are "fixed," when they are built into organic molecules that ultimately form three-carbon sugars. These sugars are then used to make glucose or are recycled to initiate the Calvin cycle again.

(Image credit: PNNL, QuickBird satellite)

Photosynthesis in the future

Photosynthetic organisms are a possible means to generate clean-burning fuels such as hydrogen or even methane. Recently, a research group at the University of Turku in Finland, tapped into the ability of green algae to produce hydrogen. Green algae can produce hydrogen for a few seconds if they are first exposed to dark, anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions and then exposed to light The team devised a way to extend green algae's hydrogen production for up to three days, as reported in their 2018 study published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science.

Scientists have also made advances in the field of artificial photosynthesis. For instance, a group of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, developed an artificial system to capture carbon dioxide using nanowires, or wires that are a few billionths of a meter in diameter. The wires feed into a system of microbes that reduce carbon dioxide into fuels or polymers by using energy from sunlight. The team published its design in 2015 in the journal Nano Letters.

In 2016, members of this same group published a study in the journal Science that described another artificial photosynthetic system in which specially engineered bacteria were used to create liquid fuels using sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. In general, plants are only able to harness about one percent of solar energy and use it to produce organic compounds during photosynthesis. In contrast, the researchers' artificial system was able to harness 10 percent of solar energy to produce organic compounds.

Continued research of natural processes, such as photosynthesis, aids scientists in developing new ways to utilize various sources of renewable energy. Seeing as sunlight, plants and bacteria are all ubiquitous, tapping into the power of photosynthesis is a logical step for creating clean-burning and carbon-neutral fuels.
Additional resources:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
(Image credit: KPG_Payless | Shutterstock) Photosynthesis is the process used by plants, algae and certain bacteria to harness energy from sunlight and turn it into chemical energy. Here, we describe the general principles of photosynthesis and highlight how scientists are studying this natural process to help develop clean fuels and sources of renewable energy.

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This video helped me understand what plants need when they do photosynthesis

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There's a short description, and then if you click on "Launch Interactive", you can do the activity to learn about photosynthesis.

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Illuminating Photosynthesis - NOVA | PBS

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Explore how photosynthesis works by helping the process along in this game.