Page 118 - The Creation Of The Universe

116 THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE

Photosynthesis and Light
Photosynthesis is a chemical process whose name almost everyone
who's ever gone to school will be familiar with. Most people however fail
to realize how vitally important this process is for life on Earth or what a
mystery its workings are.
First let's brush off our high-school chemistry and take a look at the for-
mula for the photosynthesis reaction:

6H O + 6CO +Sunlight —> C H O + 6O
2 2 6 12 6 2
Glucose

Translated into words this means: Water and carbon dioxide and sun-
light produces glucose and oxygen.
To be more exact what is happening in this chemical reaction is that six
molecules of water (H O) combine with six molecules of carbon dioxide
2
(CO ) in a reaction that is energized by sunlight. When the reaction is com-
2
plete, the result is a single molecule of glucose (C H O ), a simple sugar
6 12 6
that is a fundamental element of nutrition, and six molecules of gaseous
oxygen (O ). The source of all nutriments on our planet, glucose contains
2
a great deal of energy.
Simple though this reaction may look, it is in fact enormously complex.
There is only one place where it occurs: in plants. The plants of this world
produce the basic food for all living things. Every other living thing is ulti-
mately nourished in one way or another by glucose. Herbivorous animals
eat the plants themselves and carnivorous animals eat plants and/or other
animals. Human beings are no exception: our energy is derived from the
food we eat and comes from the same source. Every apple, potato, choco-
late, or steak or anything else you eat is supplying you with energy that
came from the Sun.
But photosynthesis is important for another reason. The reaction has
two products: in addition to glucose, it also releases six molecules of oxy-
gen. What's happening here is that plants are continuously cleaning up an
atmosphere that is constantly being "polluted" by air-breathing crea-