Page 167 - Photosynthesis: The Green Miracle

onsider an area of 1 square millimeter—
about the size of the tip of a lead pencil.
Now, into that space, squeeze 500,000

special devices, each containing a very
special design and function. Also, let’s protect each
one with a very special packaging system.
This might seem quite impossible for you, but
Allah’s creation is flawless and magnificent. The feat
described above is regularly performed in real life.
There are 500,000 chloroplasts in 1 square millimeter
78
of a plant’s leaf. Chloroplast molecules, squeezed
into that very small area and have an exceedingly

complex design, perform a function vital for human
life—as briefly mentioned in an earlier section.
Imagine that you must design a special piece of
apparatus whose job will be to break down water
molecules—which as you know, consist of two at-
oms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. The device you
design must separate the oxygen from the hydrogen.

The separation of oxygen and hydrogen atoms
requires either a large explosion, or for the water
molecules to be heated by thousands of degrees.
Bear in mind that water boils at only 100 degrees
Celsius, so the level of energy needed is apparent.
Yet the only source of heat energy you are allowed to
use is the Sun. And the device you are to design has
another difficult task to perform; to combine the free
CO in the air with the H molecules it obtains.
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