Cool.............
- To: "Veggie-List" <v*@eskimo.com>
- Subject: Cool.............
- From: "* D* L* <l*@valunet.com>
- Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 10:22:28 -0400
- Importance: Normal
- Resent-Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 07:22:51 -0700
- Resent-From: veggie-list@eskimo.com
- Resent-Message-ID: <"VhZaT.0.VU.wIGQt"@mx1>
- Resent-Sender: veggie-list-request@eskimo.com
How do plants collect the sun's energy?
Green plants are the foundation of almost all life on Earth, because
they collect the Sun's light energy and use it to build living tissue.
They do it by catching photons ("particles" of light) with chlorophyll
molecules in a process called photosynthesis.
A chlorophyll molecule looks like a square plate with a long tail. At
the center of the square is an atom of magnesium. When a photon
strikes the magnesium atom an electron is ejected.
The electron is then captured in the complicated molecular
structure that surrounds the chlorophyll molecule. The energy it
releases fuels a chemical reaction resulting in the creation of sugar
molecules from carbon dioxide and ater.
More about chlorophyll:
http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/chlrphyl/chlrphyl.html
More about photosynthesis:
http://photoscience.la.asu.edu/photosyn/education/photointro.html
