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How to Outline the Process of Photosynthesis With the Products and Reactants

Almost all life on Earth is powered by photosynthesis, either directly or indirectly. Except for mushrooms and a few other lowly life forms, all life on Earth is either a green plant, eats green plants or eats things that eat green plants. Photosynthesis is how green plants take sunlight and carbon dioxide and make sugar. Photosynthesis is how the fuel of sunlight is converted into the energy that drives the engine of life on Earth.

Instructions

- 1
  Describe the general process of photosynthesis. Molecules are ripped apart and reassembled into new molecules. The starting molecules are called reactants, the ending molecules are called products and the energy that reassembles the atoms comes from sunlight.
- 2
  Give the specifics of exactly what is rearranged with the formula 6H20 + 6CO2 --> C6H12O6 + 6O2. Six molecules water and six molecules of carbon dioxide are reassembled into one molecule of sugar and six molecules of oxygen. Carbon dioxide from the air and water from the ground make sugar, which is stored in the plant, and oxygen ̵1; the waste product ̵1; is expelled.
- 3
  Show how photosynthesis fits into the ecology of life on Earth. The exchange of gases is the most obvious interdependence. Plants absorb carbon dioxide ̵1; which is poison to animals ̵1; and release oxygen, which animals need to live. Animals breathe oxygen ̵1; which is poison to plants ̵1; and exhale carbon dioxide, which plants need to survive.

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