Photosynthesis means the biological process carried out through the chlorophyll present in green plants, which, through the energy of sunlight, absorb water and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that are transformed into chemical energy. Simultaneously, there are oxygen release in the atmosphere, which renews and purifies the air.
Through photosynthesis, green plants accumulate solar energy and transform it into compounds that are synthesized from carbon dioxide. This process includes light, water, chlorophyll and carbon dioxide. In photosynthesis it is possible to identify two phases: light and dark.
Photosynthesis is fundamental for the survival of all forms of life on Earth, as it is through it that essential energy for life is obtained. The food chain is continued because animals and other beings that do not have photosynthetic capacity depend on organic substances offered by green plants as a food source.
The term "autotroph" designates beings that have the ability to synthesize their own food. "Heterotrophs" are men and most animals that do not have this ability.
The photosynthesis process carried out by autotrophic beings was discovered in 1778 by the scientist Dutchman Jan Ingenhousz, who witnessed the release of oxygen gas by plants exposed to light solar.
Light phase and dark phase of photosynthesis
At clear phase, light absorption occurs through chlorophyll and other pigments, which photoreduce NADP+ with the division of water and photophosphorylation of ADP. Thus, the formation of NADPH and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) occurs.
At dark phase, the reduction of carbon dioxide and the creation of other carbon-based organic compounds takes place.
Photosynthesis and Chemosynthesis
Unlike photosynthesis, chemosynthesis is the formation of organic matter without resorting to solar energy. This phenomenon is most often carried out by bacteria, specifically ferrobacteria, sulfobacteria and nitrobacteria.
