Page 147 - Photosynthesis: The Green Miracle

s you know, plants and some bacteria
and single-celled organisms use energy
from the Sun in order to produce sugar
from carbon dioxide and water. As a re-
sult of this reaction, the energy in solar

rays is stored inside the resulting sugar molecules.
Chlorophyll, a green pigment, plays an important role
in the conversion of solar energy into useable chemical
energy. (Pigment is the name given to substances capa-
ble of absorbing light.)
The entire reaction can be summarized in this for-
mula:

6H O + 6CO —-PHOTOSYNTHESIS—->
2 2
C H O + 6O
6 12 6 2

For those who are unfamiliar with the language of
chemistry, this formula may be translated as follows:

6 water molecules + 6 carbon dioxide molecules
–as a result of PHOTOSYNTHESIS— produce 1 sug-

ar molecule + 6 oxygen molecules 67

This general description appears very simple, but
this formula shows only those substances that enter the
reaction at the beginning and those that are obtained at
the end. The production of these final products is car-
ried out as a result of astonishing and exceedingly com-
plex processes and mechanisms in the leaf.