How Do Plants Use The Sun?

The sun’s energy makes life on Earth possible. Plants harness this energy through a process called photosynthesis. Then they turn it into sugars that fuel their growth and other cellular processes.

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Plants absorb light energy through specialised cells called chloroplasts in their leaves, stems, flowers and roots. This energy fuels a chemical reaction that creates glucose, a form of sugar that nourishes the plant. The process also produces oxygen, which plants use to breathe. It’s called photosynthesis, and all plants, algae and some microorganisms do it. Just like plants, we need the sun’s energy too. Why not consider harnessing this energy with Solar Panel Installers Yate from redbridgeandsons.co.uk/solar-pv-panels/solar-panel-installers-yate

A plant’s large surface area and thin, translucent leaves allow as much sunlight as possible to reach the chloroplasts inside. Leaves may be arranged to avoid shading the ones below them and to face different directions at various times of the day. Some fern varieties, like Boston fern and maidenhair fern, thrive in indirect sunlight.

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When a plant’s photosynthesis goes wrong, it can produce too much energy, which might damage important proteins. To prevent this, a plant can reject energy by converting it to heat. Plants typically reject about 70 percent of the energy they absorb.

The sun’s energy also warms the ground and causes tiny air pockets within it to expand. This pushes out some of the soil’s oxygen, which is vital for a plant’s cellular respiration. Without oxygen, the cells of a plant can’t turn glucose into energy for growth so the plant eventually dies.