Tag: introduction to photosynthesis

Photosynthesis is a process by which green plants manufacture their food with the help of carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight. When light energy is absorbed by photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll, then it gets exited and photosynthetic reaction center loses an electron. In this way, light energy is converted to chemical energy. Conversion of light energy into chemical energy is the primary event in photosynthesis. R. Mayer stated that in photosynthesis light energy is converted into chemical energy. He also proposed that the sun is the ultimate source of energy utilized by living organisms.

Joseph Priestley discovered that plants produce oxygen.
Jean Senebier discovered that the source of this carbon is carbon dioxide. 
Sachs discovered that starch grains are produced in plant leaves and  these are the first visible product of the process of photosynthesis. 
Jan Ingenhousz discovered that light plays a major role in photosynthesis. 

• Most of the experimental work in photosynthesis has been done on Chlorella. Through photosynthesis it multiplies rapidly, requiring only carbon dioxide, water, sunlight and a small number of minerals to reproduce. 
• It is easy to culture and it is easy to understand the photosynthetic process in chlorella cells.
•  Based on the above advantages most of the photosynthetic work was conducted in chlorella compared to hydrilla, spinach leaves, and Chlamydomonas. 

The correcr answer is ' Sachs ' . Sachs stated that green parts in the plants produces glucose which is later stored as starch and this starch is the first visible product of photosynthesis . in 1865 Sachs proved that chlorophyll was confined to special bodies only , which was later termed as Chloroplasts .

Van Helmont concluded that plants get their food from water. Van Helmont wanted to prove plants use materials from the soil to perform photosynthesis and done an experiment and proved that.