Question

Plant convert energy into water protein carbohydrates or food

Answer 1

Green plants are producers. This means that they can survive without animals! They can make lots of organic chemicals from a few simple inorganic chemicals. They need simple things like carbon dioxide and water and can make complex things like sugar, starch, fat, and proteins.

Plants get their nutrients from the environment. Carbon dioxide comes from the air (unless they are aquatic plants, in which case they get it from the water surrounding them). They get water from the soil. They also need other inorganic nutrients like nitrate, sulphate and phosphate. A few plants cannot get nitrate out of the soil so they have to eat animals to get the nitrogen which they must have for growth.

Animals are consumers; they cannot carry out photosynthesis. This means that they have to eat other things to get the carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals which they need.

When plants are in the sunlight they can make a sugar called glucose. This is slightly different from the sugar (sucrose) which you put into your tea. Glucose contains three chemical elements:

Carbon

Hydrogen

Oxygen

All the carbon needed for photosynthesis comes from carbon dioxide.

All the hydrogen comes from water.

When plants use carbon dioxide and water to make glucose there is a lot of oxygen left over. Here is a word equation:

Light

CarbonDioxide

+

Water

→

Glucose

+

Oxygen