What is the equation for photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis
Before we tell about what is the equation for photosynthesis. Firstly we tell about what is photosynthesis. Green plants produce carbohydrates (edible substances) by CO2 and water in the presence of a pigment called chlorophyll by sunlight and release oxygen gases and it’s called photosynthesis.
In this process, oxygen is produced which is essential for life. Organisms receive oxygen by respiration, which oxidizes food to provide energy for the body. Oxygen is used for breathing by every living being hence the process of photosynthesis is important for every living creature along with plants.
The products of photosynthesis are minerals, oil, petroleum, coal, etc., which were stored by plants millions of years ago.
The green color of plants is due to the photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll present in them. Photosynthesis occurs in plants due to the presence of chlorophyll, whereas they are unable to produce food due to the absence of chlorophyll in animals. The entire process of photosynthesis takes place in the green foliage. Green leaves are plant cell organelles.
What is the equation for photosynthesis.
The chemical equation of photosynthesis can be read as follows:
Carbon dioxide + water (+ sunlight) → glucose + oxygen
6 CO2 + 6 H2O → C6H12O6 + 6 O2
Where CO2 = carbon dioxide; H2O = water; C6H12O6 = glucose; O2 = Oxygen (Helmenstein, 2017).
Glucose process
Glucose is made up of a mixture of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.
Once it is generated through the process of photosynthesis, it is being used in three different ways:
- This cell is converted into chemicals necessary for the growth of cells, such as cellulose.
- It can be converted into starch, a storage molecule that has the ability to convert glucose back if the plant requires it.
- It can decompose during the breathing process, releasing the energy stored in its molecules.
Chemical compound
Plants need to take many chemical elements to stay alive and healthy. The most important are coal, hydrogen, and oxygen. Hydrogen and oxygen draw from water and soil, on the other hand, carbon and oxygen are taken from the carbon dioxide and oxygen present in the atmosphere.
During photosynthesis, water and carbon dioxide are used to synthesize food. Oxygen is necessary to release the energy of food during the process of plant respiration. Apart from these three basic elements, which are indicated in the formula of photosynthesis, there are other mineral compounds that all plants need to grow in a healthy way.
They are absorbed by the roots because ions dissolve in soil water. Two of these minerals are nitrate and magnesium.
Nitrate is essential for the formation of amino acids during the process of photosynthesis. Amino acids, in turn, allow proteins to be produced. For its part, magnesium is necessary for the production of chlorophyll.
Plants whose leaves turn different colors to green are possibly undergoing mineral deficiency and the process of photosynthesis will not be carried out successfully.
Historical background
It has been known since ancient times that plants get their nutrition from the roots. In 1772, Stephen Helles stated that the leaves of plants take food from the air and that light has some important function in this process.
Priestley first told in 1772 that if a candle is burnt in the air generated during this process, it keeps on burning.
If a living mouse is kept in the air generated after burning the candle, it dies. He again stated in 1775 that the gas released by the plants during the day is oxygen.
After this, the engine house told in 1779 that green plants consume co2 in sunlight and remove oxygen. D. Sasur told in 1804 that plants take oxygen only in respiration day and night, but they release oxygen during photosynthesis.
Therefore, oxygen is used throughout the day, but oxygen is made only by photosynthesis with carbon dioxide.
Mother-in-law reported in 1887 that starch is produced in plants by ingesting co2 of green plants and extracting o2.
Importance
The process of photosynthesis occurring in green plants is a very important activity for plants and other living beings. In this process, the plants convert sunlight energy into chemical energy and complex carbon compounds become carbohydrates from simple substances like CO2 water.
It is only through these carbohydrates that humans and living beings get food. In this way, plants make food for the whole animal world by the process of photosynthesis.
Various crops are grown to obtain carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins, etc., and all these substances are produced by photosynthesis.
Green trees take carbon dioxide in the process of photosynthesis and remove oxygen, thus purifying the atmosphere. Oxygen is essential for all animals to breathe. This action is also important for the protection of the environment. When the process of photosynthesis slows down, the amount of carbon dioxide in the water increases.
Food is produced by the use of solar energy in photosynthesis, radiation energy is converted into chemical energy. While energy is freed from the oxidation of food in respiration, living energy is used in its various functions by the chemical energy stored in food.
In this way, these two activities complement each other by relying on each other’s end products for their raw materials.
