All living things require “fuel” in one form or the other to survive. However, in this article, we are going to be focusing on plants. We’ll look at how plants gather raw materials for their energy synthesis; what photosynthesis is all about; and in which form energy is stored in herbs.
But, first, let us go back to the beginning. Where do the raw materials for energy synthesis in plants come from?
Before a plant is able to produce its food, these raw materials listed before must be present:
Chlorophyll
Is the chemical substance that gives weeds their characteristics green color. It is this pigment that captures light energy for photosynthesis.
Light Energy
The power they use in the manufacture of their food falls between the 400 – 700nm wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum. And this wavelength band is called the photosynthetically active radiation. So we’re talking here about the full spectrum range. If you plan to get some lights for your indoor gardening(because your indoor harvests need light as well), you should opt in for the full spectrum LED grow lights.
Carbon dioxide
While humans, animals and every other living organism need oxygen plants need carbon dioxide (CO2) to process their food. Plants breathe in CO2 during photosynthesis and give out Oxygen (O2).
Water
Of course, as the universal solvent, water is required by weeds when producing their food.
So, all these ‘raw material’ must be present and in sufficient quantity for to manufacture their food.
Fun Fact: Plants and certain green algae are the only living things that solve their power needs by utilizing environmental elements to synthesize their energy while humans and other animals depend on herbs for their fuel.
What is photosynthesis all about?
Photosynthesis is at the core of the food chain and life sustenance on this planet. It is the chemical process in plants where all the ‘raw materials’ (water, carbon oxide, sunlight) undergo a reaction to produce sugar and oxygen.
In other words, they convert sunlight into chemical energy.
Where does photosynthesis occur?
It is essential to understand that not every part of the plant is suitable for photosynthesis. In fact, plants have specific “organs’ designed for that purpose, and it is the leaves. To be more specific chloroplast cells on the leaves ‘houses’ the green chlorophyll.
So, you’d be right to think of the plant leaves as factories.
Let us go a little deeper to understand the photosynthetic process:
The chemical reaction
From High school sciences, you were taught that photosynthesis is a chemical reaction. And every reaction has an equation. Yeah, I know, stay with me – I’m really going to make this as simple as possible:
6CO2 + 6H2O + Light energy = C6H12O6 + 6O2
That’s the photosynthesis equation, and all it is saying is: During photosynthesis, plants combine six molecules of carbon dioxide with six molecules of Oxygen in the presence of light to give out one molecule of sugar and six molecules of Oxygen.
The photosynthetic process is divided into two stages – the light and dark reactions:
Light reaction – occurs during the day or in the presence of light which primarily involves trapping the light and converting it into adenosine triphosphate (ATP) needed during the dark stage.
Dark reaction – plants convert the ATP to sugar.
What form do plants store energy?
After producing sugar, they utilize some for cellular respiration and convert the excess into an insoluble sugar called starch for storage.
So this is how herbs and weeds store their fuel. They basically use the environmental elements to transform them into oxygen and sugar, for their growth. Simple like that, like any other natural process. I believe that mother nature is following the KISS principle(keep it super simple), don’t you think? 🙂
