Video Transcript
What biological process makes
glucose in the leaves of a plant?
Unlike animals, plants do not need
to obtain their nutrition from other living or once-living organisms. Instead, most plants are able to
make their own food in the form of a sugar called glucose using light energy,
usually from the Sun, and simple inorganic materials. This process requires carbon
dioxide, which is usually absorbed from the atmosphere into the plants’ leaves.
This process also requires water
molecules, which are usually absorbed through a plant’s roots from soil. This water is then usually
transported up the plant stem to the leaves where the majority of glucose is
produced in a plant.
In the presence of light energy,
carbon dioxide and water react to form glucose, which can be used in cellular
respiration to release energy. And oxygen which can also be used
in respiration or is released back into the atmosphere. The process by which glucose is
made in the presence of light energy and simple inorganic molecules is called
photosynthesis. The prefix photo- indicates that
this reaction requires light energy, while the suffix -synthesis shows that
something is being synthesized or made through this reaction. As we now know, the substance being
synthesized is glucose.
Now we can answer our question. The biological process that makes
glucose in the leaves of a plant is photosynthesis.
