Plants and organisms that can use light energy to produce storable chemical energy through photosynthesis include seed plants, ferns, mosses, algae, cyanobacteria, and some other groups of bacteria. The term "photosynthesis" comes from the Greek and stands for "composition of light". Photosynthesis forms the basis of life for our houseplants - if you want to understand plants, you also have to understand the process of photosynthesis. We explain how the conversion of the Starting materials CO2, water and light to sugar and oxygen works and what influences them!
What is photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis is one of the most important processes on earth: Plants depend on it for their growth and are an important source of food for many living beings. In addition, most living things need the oxygen produced by photosynthesis to breathe. Without photosynthesis, life on our planet would not be possible.
Simply explained, the autotrophic reaction proceeds as follows: the body's own high-energy substances are produced from inorganic substances that are foreign to the body. A plant absorbs water and carbon dioxide from its environment. Using the sun's energy, it can produce sugar in the form of glucose and oxygen. The sugar serves as a food source while the oxygen is released into the environment as a byproduct .
Formula: How does photosynthesis work?
Plants get energy from sunlight. Water is absorbed through the roots and leaves and the carbon dioxide is exhaled by people. First, the plant must convert the sun's light energy into chemical energy. This takes place in the chloroplasts in plant cells. Chloroplasts are the parts of a cell that contain the green pigment chlorophyll, which is what gives leaves their green color.
The exact equation of photosynthesis is: 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + light energy → C6H12O6 + 6 O2
Here CO2 stands for carbon dioxide, H2O for water and the light energy is the energy from the sun. C6H12O6 stands for the glucose produced and O2 for the oxygen given off. Cellulose, starch and fructose are produced from the basic building block glucose.
The plant mainly uses the sugar it produces to meet its own energy needs. Through a process called catabolism, the plant derives energy from the breakdown of sugars. The converted energy is then stored in chemical form (ATP) and used for transport activities and growth.
Under optimal conditions for the plant, it can produce more glucose than is needed for energy production. This excess can be used to build almost every other part of the plant. This process is called anabolism.
light reaction and dark reaction
In order to understand exactly how photosynthesis takes place in the plant in terms of time and space, you have to take a closer look at the associated sub-processes. Photosynthesis is divided into a light-dependent reaction and a light-independent reaction, also known as the Calvin cycle.
As previously discussed, the light reaction is the part of photosynthesis that converts light energy into chemical energy. It is then in the form of the energy carrier ATP and the electron carrier molecule NADPH. In addition, the water molecules are split by the light, also called photolysis. Water oxidizes to oxygen.
The so-called dark reaction then uses the energy gained from the light reaction and carbon dioxide from the air to form sugar. No direct light is required for this part of photosynthesis, since it is already available from the light reaction in the chloroplasts.
The FARBIO® NPK organic liquid fertilizer for green plants is very well suited to providing your plants with the essential main nutrients. In addition to photosynthesis, a sufficient supply of nutrients is necessary for the healthy maintenance of your indoor plants!
