The process that gives us food without realizing: Photosynthesis

In nature we directly observe the fruits in the plants, which we later harvest and even process for their conservation and consumption, but in reality we have asked ourselves: what fundamental process is hidden behind that generation of useful fruits for human consumption? Without a doubt that somehow there must be many processes behind this great resource, but without a doubt there is one that science has explained very well, and that has been made known to us through biology, and is not more than that of photosynthesis, what would really happen in our environment if there were no photosynthesis ?, All these questions will try to address through this article, and together with all these questions to develop a comprehensive analysis of the benefits we will get if we all understand complete this process.

Trying to analyze some aspects that give rise to a viable environment through photosynthesis

We can observe and analyze constantly, that the world lives a complicated plot, in which everything changes at every moment, all these changes affect many factors in a favorable and unfavorable way, however many processes that are executed within our noble nature enjoy a great stability, this stability is due to the way in which they have managed to reuse some materials, now this cycle of reuse of certain natural matter that occurs within our planet would not be possible without the existence of an external source of energy , for our existential processes of life inside the planet thanks to God that we have the energy that the Sun provides us, where thanks to the continuous thermonuclear activity, that is to say to the internal activity that is in the sun, electromagnetic radiation can be emitted, Among those that stand out are those that give life to the planet.

Despite all the importance of solar energy for life on our planet it is necessary to understand that, although the energy coming from the sun is very abundant, it can not be used directly by any type of organism, not even by any type of cell.

Who then are the organisms able to take advantage of this energy, and under what conditions?

Only specialized cells are those that can take advantage of and synthesize this solar energy, such is the case of cells with chloroplasts of plants, or some prokaryotes such as cyanophyceae and photobacteria, the process of these cells to synthesize organic matter is through observation of solar energy. It is through this ability of some organisms to transform solar energy into food that we reach the point of being able to say that the studies made by science to study this process call it photosynthesis.

Analysis of some studies and experiments on photosynthesis processes

In the eighteenth century, Priestley observed that an animal and a plant enclosed together under a glass bell could survive for a long time. On the contrary, enclosed separately, the animal died. All this caused that Priestley deduced that probably the plant was able to transform the air "vitiated" produced by the animal in "pure" air. All this experiment was conducted in the shadow of any demonstration was only observable analysis of what happened when the animal and the plant were locked, and what happened after they were separated, so it was presumed that the plant purified the air and for that the animal when it was with the plant did not die. Later, by the 19th century, it was shown that plants absorbed water and carbon dioxide (CO2), and that plants exposed to light produced organic matter and released oxygen.

So we can conclude that through this process called photosynthesis we not only have fruits in the plants that will later be our food, but photosynthesis in its process of absorption of water and carbon dioxide manages to release oxygen by a chemical reaction, so important for human and biological life on our planet, apart from this, thanks to this process, plants release us from the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is so harmful to human health and provides a key element for climate change and generation of greenhouse gases.

All this leads me to think that being able to study and understand the process of photosynthesis is a subject that must transcend the horizons and limits of science, since it is of no use to us that this information is encapsulated for a few, it is necessary that is explained in our educational levels but with an understandable and humanistic approach.

Let's analyze the general equation of photosynthesis, and also some processes occurring within photosynthesis

First of all already at this point in reading this publication we have to be clear that one of the protagonists in the process of photosynthesis is the plant, since practically the plant works as a laboratory where certain elements are taken to feed, In this case, the elements that the plant takes are solar energy, carbon dioxide and water, with which it subsequently produces glucose to feed and bear fruit, and releases pure oxygen into the atmosphere.

As we can analyze nature is perfect, because in this process of photosynthesis to exist all the elements mentioned above nothing fails, what we need is to have plants on our planet so that with the process of photosynthesis we can obtain food and oxygen so necessary for life.

Another point I want to explain is the balancing of the general equation of photosynthesis, since anyone who sees this equation may think that if plants take solar energy, carbon dioxide and water, why take those numbers that do not correspond to dioxide of carbon or water.

• First of all remember that for photosynthesis plants take carbon dioxide and water.

Then the sunlight interacts with the plant, where the light waves behave as particles that move through space. These virtual particles are called photons. Each photon has an energy that varies inversely proportional to the wavelength. When a photon collides with an electron, it may happen that the latter is displaced from its orbit. The electron has absorbed the photon with its energy and has gone to a normal or resting state, emitting a new photon.

Chlorophyll, which is an element found in plants, is made up of extraordinarily receptive molecules, with electrons that can easily pass into the excited state, both by long and short wavelength photons. The intermediate lengths, which correspond to the green color, are not absorbed by the chlorophyll but reflected, which gives it its characteristic color.

In this process of absorption of sunlight we have to name the chloroplasts, these are the organelles characteristic of plant cells. In them, chlorophyll, which carries out photosynthesis, is present. Chlorophyll is not found in the form of isolated and dispersed molecules, but they are found in bundles. These perform the function of concentrating the light energy, so that the excitation caused in numerous molecules are linked to a suitable enzymatic system and thus a maximum performance is possible, independently of the random variation of the received photons.

Image source: Wikimedia Commons. Public domain

Now let's try to organize the ideas before advancing in these elements that interact in this beautiful process, we already saw in summary that the plant takes advantage of sunlight using the chlorophyll found in chloroplasts, but there is still a protagonist in this process, and it is water that also occupies a preponderant role in the vital functions of the process of photosynthesis, water acts in different ways in this process, one of which is that it acts as a solvent medium in which most chemical reactions occur involved in this process of photosynthesis. Water also occupies a very prominent role, which is to intervene as one of the main reactants in this process.

More clearly speaking, in photosynthesis water breaks down into its two basic elements: hydrogen and oxygen. The light energy that was concentrated in the chlorophyll is used to remove electrons from the OH ions, which causes them to react with each other again giving water and releasing atomic oxygen.

In summary form I can explain this as follows: "*** The luminous energy stored in chlorophyll serves to generate water and release oxygen through a chemical reaction". What refers to the chemical reaction is given as follows:

From this reaction arises another phase or stage, where the plant can reduce CO2. The protons produced in this reaction are actively pumped out of the membrane, where they will be subsequently used for CO2 reduction. At the same time as a by-product generated from this reaction, oxygen is obtained, which is expelled to the outside of the plant, and it is in the atmosphere where we can find it.

The manner in which the CO2 present in the atmosphere is incorporated into the plant is equivalent to a reduction reaction. One of the bonds of carbon with oxygen is replaced by a bond with another carbon. This reaction occurs in the chloroplasts of the plant, where it has been accumulated by the photochemical action of chlorophyll, this reaction is very different from that which occurs with water, since this reaction of CO2 does not need the action of sunlight, at least not directly, since the reaction that occurs with CO2 is a purely chemical reaction where there are exchanges of electrons, taking into account that the substances involved in this process have been produced by the action of the light. Let's see how this reaction occurs:

• Once the plant has taken all the elements necessary for the process of photosynthesis to take place, the following byproduct is generated:

The analysis of the product from which the plant is fed (carbon dioxide and water) and the by-product that it generates through photosynthesis (glucose and oxygen), leads us to think that the general equation of photosynthesis should be:

Now I analyze this case to answer that this can not really be the general equation of photosynthesis because if we take into account that energy is not created or destroyed, but is transformed into other forms of energy, then has to comply with the law of balance of matter, that is, what enters a system must be exactly the same as the one that comes out, and that equation that I pose as the general equation of photosynthesis there is an imbalance of matter.

On the side of the product consumed by the plant (carbon dioxide + water) only one carbon atom is available, while in the by-product generated by the plant (glucose + oxygen) There are 6 carbon atoms, so you have to balance the equation, adding a 6 in front of the carbon atom of the product taken by the plant, which would look like this:

, however, we realize that on the side of the by-product generated by the plant there are 12 hydrogen atoms belonging to glucose , so you have to balance this part by adding a 6 in front of the two hydrogen atoms, staying as follows:

With this we can guarantee that the same amount of carbon and hydrogen present in product and byproduct are the same, however we can see that there are 8 oxygen atoms on the side of the byproduct , while in the product there are 18 oxygen atoms so you have to balance the equation by adding a 6 in front of the , with what the general equation of photosynthesis would remain as the one proposed at the beginning of the article:

Conclusions

1. Once the process of photosynthesis has been fully studied and analyzed, we can conclude that in this process there are two reactions, one in which the power of reduction is increased by needing sunlight, and the other reaction that is also the editor of CO2 in which light does not intervene directly. So it can be said that in photosynthesis there is a light phase and a dark phase.

2. For me to understand this process, it is very important that we understand the necessary elements that have to be conjugated so that photosynthesis exists, since otherwise we could not take advantage of the favorable elements that arise from the completion of this process, as the release of oxygen, the reduction of carbon dioxide, food production through agricultural production, that is why in each plantation there must be water and sunlight so that the rest of the plant does it like a beautiful laboratory having as generating machinery to photosynthesis.

3. I hope that this article with descriptive and analytical characteristics can serve as a source of reflection to promote the propagation of the teaching of photosynthesis under an environmental model, where the sustainable way in the exploitation of resources is the priority once this process is understood.

Bibliography consulted

• Natural Sciences. Thematic Educational Program. Josep Lluís Hernández. Edition Lluís D. Gil. Spain 1999.