Learn About Photosynthesis Formula

Some organisms need to create the energy they need to survive. These organisms are capable of absorbing energy from sunlight and using it to produce sugar and other organic compounds such as lipids and proteins. The sugars are then used to provide energy for the organism. This process, called photosynthesis, is used by photosynthetic organisms including plants, algae, and cyanobacteria. Photosynthesis Equation In photosynthesis, solar energy is converted to chemical energy. The chemical energy is stored in the form of glucose (sugar). Carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight are used to produce glucose, oxygen, and water. The chemical equation for this process is: 6CO2 12H2O light → C6H12O6 6O2 6H2O Six molecules of carbon dioxide (6CO2) and twelve molecules of water (12H2O) are consumed in the process, while glucose (C6H12O6), six molecules of oxygen (6O2), and six molecules of water (6H2O) are produced. This equation may be simplified as: 6CO2 6H2O light → C6H12O6 6O2. Photosynthesis in Plants In plants, photosynthesis occurs mainly within the leaves. Since photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight, all of these substances must be obtained by or transported to the leaves. Carbon dioxide is obtained through tiny pores in plant leaves called stomata. Oxygen is also released through the stomata. Water is obtained by the plant through the roots and delivered to the leaves through vascular plant tissue systems. Sunlight is absorbed by chlorophyll, a green pigment located in plant cell structures called chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are the sites of photosynthesis. Chloroplasts contain several structures, each having specific functions: Outer and inner membranes— protective coverings that keep chloroplast structures enclosed.Stroma—dense fluid within the chloroplast. The site of conversion of carbon dioxide to sugar.Thylakoid—flattened sac-like membrane structures. The site of conversion of light energy to chemical energy.Grana—densely layered stacks of thylakoid sacs. Sites of conversion of light energy to chemical energy.Chlorophyll—a green pigment within the chloroplast. Absorbs light energy. Stages of Photosynthesis Photosynthesis occurs in two stages. These stages are called the light reactions and the dark reactions. The light reactions take place in the presence of light. The dark reactions do not require direct light, however dark reactions in most plants occur during the day. Light reactions occur mostly in the thylakoid stacks of the grana. Here, sunlight is converted to chemical energy in the form of ATP (free energy containing molecule) and NADPH (high energy electron carrying molecule). Chlorophyll absorbs light energy and starts a chain of steps that result in the production of ATP, NADPH, and oxygen (through the splitting of water). Oxygen is released through the stomata. Both ATP and NADPH are used in the dark reactions to produce sugar. Dark reactions occur in the stroma. Carbon dioxide is converted to sugar using ATP and NADPH. This process is known as carbon fixation or the Calvin cycle. The Calvin cycle has three main stages: carbon fixation, reduction, and regeneration. In carbon fixation, carbon dioxide is combined with a 5-carbon sugar [ribulose1,5-biphosphate (RuBP)] creating a 6-carbon sugar. In the reduction stage, ATP and NADPH produced in the light reaction stage are used to convert the 6-carbon sugar into two molecules of a 3-carbon carbohydrate, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate is used to make glucose and fructose. These two molecules (glucose and fructose) combine to make sucrose or sugar. In the regeneration stage, some molecules of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate are combined with ATP and are converted back into the 5-carbon sugar RuBP. With the cycle complete, RuBP is available to be combined with carbon dioxide to begin the cycle over again. Photosynthesis Summary In summary, photosynthesis is a process in which light energy is converted to chemical energy and used to produce organic compounds. In plants, photosynthesis typically occurs within the chloroplasts located in plant leaves. Photosynthesis consists of two stages, the light reactions, and the dark reactions. The light reactions convert light into energy (ATP and NADHP) and the dark reactions use the energy and carbon dioxide to produce sugar. For a review of photosynthesis, take the Photosynthesis Quiz.

Queen Elizabeth I As Unworthy Of The Throne - 2196 Words

Queen Elizabeth I was underestimated by many and was seen as unworthy of the throne. Queen Elizabeth I had a successful reign full of victories and power and was able to make sixteenth century England a thriving nation. The middle and upper class were living comfortably and England’s tin, coal, and led industries were taking off (Lambert, par. 1). The reign of Queen Elizabeth I was strong and powerful (Boatner, par. 7). She not only kept the nation strong but united as one. As triumphant as her life may seem, she did deal with a difficult childhood and an almost inexistent love life. Her lack of romantic relationships is why she is now known as England’s virgin queen, she died having never gotten married and without any children (Brimacombe 28). Queen Elizabeth I had a huge ascendency on the prosperity of England throughout her whole life: her childhood, adulthood and her golden years. This essay will discuss the hardships, triumphs and the influence that Queen Elizabe th I had during her time on the throne within the different stages of her life: her childhood, adulthood and her golden years. The Renaissance, as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica, â€Å"literally means the rebirth of European civilization† (www.britannica.com). People started gaining interest in â€Å"classical scholarship and values† (www.britannica.com). During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, one of her most recognized victories was the Spanish Armada. It was a â€Å"great fleet sent by KingShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Elizabeth I s Speech975 Words   |  4 Pagesappears as one of the main topics these three samples of Elizabeth I’s speeches. While she commonly mentions gender to sound humble and motherly, she also combines her gender with her knowledge to drive her points when explaining or avoiding topics, influencing the people’s opinion, and rallying the people. 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Elizabeth’s role as a queen came at a time when her country was going through political turmoil. Marie’s role as a missionary in New France was to civilize the indigenous people. Although working to better their countries, both of these writers are vastly different due to their social positions. While Elizabeth had the subst antial taskRead MoreThe Book Of Martyrs By John Foxe925 Words   |  4 PagesI will be examining an image taken from the Book, Acts and Monuments, or better known as the Book of Martyrs. This book was written by John Foxe in 1563. Foxe was a devout protestant during a time where Catholicism was being revived By Queen Mary. This Image displays Thomas Cranmer. Cranmer was the Archbishop of Canterbury during King Henry’s regime and helped Henry annul his marriage with Catherine. 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Would we consider Cleopatra beautiful in this day and age? I say no. Perhaps if we knew her and were ensnared by her legendary charms, she would be beautiful to us but one must decipher her personality before discovering her actual beauty. PHYSICAL BEAUTY Physical beauty is uncontrollable and is purely a

A Solution to the Population Problem free essay sample

Increasing importance has been placed upon population and population growth over the course of the past few centuries. Scientists are frenetically searching for the solution to this issue, and their outcomes are bleak. They are telling the world that if population growth does not slow, the earth will swell to a capacity too large to sustain itself and the conclusion will be apocalyptic. Explanations are numerous, however viable solutions are difficult to find. Adherents to the Malthusian theory, such as Garrett Hardin, author of the article There Is No Global Population Problem, believe that this extreme growth in population will hinder economic development, therefore the industrialized nations must fight to control the population boom. Others, including those supporting the demographic transition theory, such as Gerard Piel, author of Worldwide Development or Population Explosion: Our Choice, claim that the opposite is happening; economic development is limiting population growth and if every country is raised up to a level of economic stability population rates will decrease. Although both articles raise good points and offer up possible solutions, the demographic transition theory’s solution, as characterized by Piel’s article, is a more effective way to slow population growth. Piel’s article outlines the population problem and solution, yet it neglects to analyze the real cause. The consumption rates of a few countries are creating poverty, hunger, and overpopulation in many countries throughout the world. If this issue continues to be ignored, even if Piel’s solution strategies are implemented, the world will reach carrying capacity and our worst prognostics will come true. In 1798 the Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus published his Essay on the Principle of Population, in which he deduced, â€Å"Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometric ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetic ratio. † (Piel 1995 Pg. 44) His claim was that there would be a point in time where the world’s resources would no longer be able to support the population and the world would be reduced to â€Å"wars of extermination, sickly seasons, epidemics, pestilence, and plague. † (Malthus 1798 Pg. 49) Hardin’s article supports the Malthusian point of view. He believes that there is indeed a population problem, and there are three basic things which can be done to solve the problem; deglobalize the issue, bring immigration to a halt and use â€Å"mutual coercion† to reduce birth rates. Hardin’s most important claim is that the population problem is not truly a â€Å"global† problem; instead it is a widespread problem that is mistaken for something global. Instead of uniting to solve the problem, each individual government should work separately to find the best solution for themselves, taking into account their own customs and ideals. To illustrate this point Hardin makes an example of China, stating that their production groups are a good example of a government tailoring a population reduction program to their own culture. â€Å"Chinese traditions and cultural ideals make it easier to put the good of the group ahead of individual desires. † (Hardin 1989 Pg. 48) The government, realizing that this cultural fact could be used to â€Å"shame† families into aborting children when it was not their turn to bear them, capitalized on this and successfully found their own solution to population growth. Hardin commends this action, and suggests that the United States do something similar, focusing on monetary rewards for avoiding pregnancy, because this is the solution that would work in our culture. By implementing this method of â€Å"mutual coercion† he feels that birthrates could be brought down to a manageable level. Beyond mutual coercion and deglobalizing the population issue, Hardin asserts we must eliminate immigration. Immigration has increased exponentially from the birth of our country, with legal immigration into the US tripling from 1970 to 1990 (Lawson 2006). With millions of new bodies flowing into the country each year, both legally and illegally, the population has almost no chance of reaching zero growth within our lifetimes. Hardin believes this immigration needs to stop, as we are an advanced nation and â€Å"unrestricted immigration characterizes a new nation; restrictions are the mark of a mature nation. † (Hardin 1989 Pg. 49) The flow of ideas may continue, but with each idea it is not necessary to include a person. Although his three-step plan seems to provide an interesting solution, Hardin’s solution has many flaws. His idea of mutual coercion assumes that every culture is homogenous, and that every person will fit the mold and adapt to the pressures of society. He makes huge cultural generalizations by saying, â€Å"Chinese women are controllable by coercion† (Hardin 1989 Pg. 48), and that Americans would only be coerced by monetary rewards. Because these assumptions lack physical data, they detract from the credibility of his argument. His idea to deglobalize the problem, although practical in the way it divides based on cultural truths, neglects several important issues. Firstly, he fails to compensate for the fact that some world governments will not have the means to fulfill a solution without help from the global community. For example, several African nations, although growing at the fastest rate in the world, will not have government resources to dedicate large sums of money to family planning and birth reduction. Only with monetary and physical help from other members of the global community will it be feasible for these nations to implement a program and help eradicate the population problem. The biggest failure of Hardin’s argument of deglobalization is that he overlooks the real problem behind overpopulation in many of these countries, which is the consumption of resources by the Western world. â€Å"A population that is under 5% of the world’s population generates and consumes 25% of the global GNP† (Porter and Sheppard, 1998 Pg. 136) This rabid consumption by the most well off countries pushes the global south deeper into poverty, which is a root cause of population growth. Although Hardin admits â€Å"Americans are too comfortable to try hard to find an answer. † (Hardin 1989 Pg. 9) he neglects to mention that a good deal of the population problem is caused by the unceasing consumption by our country. If the problem is deglobalized, as Hardin suggests, the Western world will essentially be turning its back on the problem it created. The demographic transition theory, which Gerard Piel supports in his article, offers up a more educated solu tion to the population problem. The theory claims population growth is related to economic achievements; the more advanced countries increase their life spans, enabling more people to mature to the reproductive years, which in turn leads to an increase in population growth. The growth is then kept in check by technological advances, namely birth control, but also by the fact that a smaller family is ideal since agriculture is not the main source of income and more people is no longer more help, just more mouths to feed. Piel describes this viewpoint as â€Å"the fewer, the more—for each† (Piel 1995 Pg. 46) He goes on to suggest that by putting each country through the â€Å"demographic transition†, which is namely achieved by increasing economic development, it is possible to halt the increase in population. He explains, â€Å"we can reach zero-growth population, if we expand the world economy fourfold and share the proceeds equitably. This would bring the poorest 20 percent out of poverty. † (Piel 1995 Pg. 45) In order to defeat poverty, which is both the cause and effect of overpopulation, it is necessary for the industrialized nations bind together to assist the unindustrialized nations in achieving economic prosperity. As an example of the process of demographic transition, Piel, like Hardin, turns to China. However, he accredits the decline in population growth to the revolution that turned China from a politically isolated country into the ninth largest economy in the world. With the doubling of the GDP China saw its literacy rate skyrocket, the life expectancy extend, infant mortality drop drastically and, in 1992, the fertility rate approach the zero-growth rate. (Piel 1995 Pg. 50) This proves that by simply moving into the second stage of the demographic transition, China was able to finally control its population of 1. 2 billion people. Piel’s solution, although far from perfect, does a better job at realizing that this problem truly is global, and that the only way in which a resolution will be found is if the entire world works together. Although he does not blatantly support the ideas of the consumptionist theory, which believes that the consumption distribution supports inequality, which then causes overpopulation, his argument includes lots of support for the idea. Some of his most blatant support is when he discusses the discrepancies of wealth between transnational corporations and the countries that they exploit. He explains, â€Å"The 350 largest nonfinancial transnational corporations [which] account for 30 percent of the output of the world economy†¦ in no small measure, owe their enormous expansion in the past three decades to their advantage in negotiation of the terms under which the developing countries have supplied every commodity—from petroleum to labor. † (Piel 1995 49) He is arguing that the most well off countries continue to prosper at the expense of the resources and work force of some of the world’s poorest countries, furthering poverty, which goes on to affect population and population control. If the world binds together, pools their wealth and propels underprivileged countries through the demographic transition, as Piel suggests, it is possible to begin to slow population growth. But this advancement will be negated if the world does not acknowledge that the consumerist appetite of select countries is a major reason behind the population problem. Western countries believe they can continue to shift the blame from themselves to poor women in poor countries, essentially scapegoating the vulnerable. Eventually, though, it will be realized that this problem can be ignored and hidden, but it will not dissipate until someone faces it. The longer it goes unaddressed, unmentioned by those too embarrassed by their own actions or those whose voices are powerless to make an impact, the worse the global population problem will become. As our population continues to double, triple, quadruple, with no signs of slowing, we need to bind together, implement strategies for population reduction, and face the real issues, no matter how scary, because if not, our worst prognostics will become reality.