PHOTOSYNTHESIS
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
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Unlike animals, most plants do not need to find food,     because they can make it for themselves. Plants use energy from sunlight to     turn water and carbon dioxide into an energy-rich sugar called glucose. This     process is called photosynthesis, which means “making things with     light”. Photosynthesis takes place inside capsules in the leaf cells,     called CHLOROPLASTS .
MAKING FOOD AND OXYGEN
Plants use their leaves to make food. Oxygen is created as a     by-product. During photosynthesis, plant leaves take in carbon dioxide from the     atmosphere. Using the energy from sunlight, this is combined with water drawn     up from the roots to make glucose. Oxygen is also produced in this chemical     reaction and exits the leaves into the surrounding air.
FOOD-PRODUCING CELLS
Different plant cells perform different tasks. Palisade cells and     spongy cells are located just below the epidermis and are a plant’s main     food-producers. The tall palisade cells are packed with green chloroplasts,     which carry out photosynthesis. The irregularly shaped spongy cells also have     chloroplasts. Air spaces between the cells are filled with carbon dioxide,     water vapour and other gases.
CHLOROPLAST
Many leaf cells contain tiny, lens-shaped organelles     called chloroplasts. These can move around the cell towards the direction of     sunlight. Chloroplasts contain a green, light-capturing pigment called     chlorophyll. This chemical helps the chloroplasts to act like minute solar     panels.
INSIDE A CHLOROPLAST
Chloroplasts are made up of stacks of tiny disclike membranes     called grana, held in a dense mass of material known as the stroma. The grana     are where water is split into hydrogen and oxygen, using some of the light     energy captured by the chlorophyll. The rest of the light energy is used in the     stroma to combine the hydrogen with the carbon dioxide to make glucose.
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