Plants and Photosynthesis

Plants and Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis - plant food! Or is it that simple? Hmm. Let's see, if the Greek word photo means light, and the Greek word synthesis means to put together, does photosynthesis mean putting together light? That doesn't sound quite right to me. How about combining light with something else? Like, I don't know, carbon dioxide and water? If you combine sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, the result is glucose. Glucose is a type of sugar, but it's also what plants eat! Photosynthesis is the process of glucose being made by chloroplasts inside plant cells.

Chloroplasts, if you didn't know already, are organelles that only exist in plants. They enable a plant to make it's own food. They also contain a green pigment called chlorophyll, which makes plants green. Chlorophyll is also the chemical that makes photosynthesis possible. Chlorophyll is contained in chloroplasts. Some plants, like the Venus fly trap, eat bugs because they cannot make enough food to support themselves.

Plants also have a cell wall, which surrounds the cell membrane. The cell wall gives the plant support and structure. They also have one large vacuole in the center instead of multiple smaller vacuoles scattered around. Now lets talk about some of the inner parts of the plant. The xylem is the part of the plant that takes the nutrients from the roots and shoots it up through the stem into the leaves. The phloem transports sap throughout the plant, which is a water based sugary fluid that helps the plant grow.

Well, that's all for today, Scientific Waffle out.

Links:
Cell Game (Plants)