How Plants Produce Food

Carbon Dioxide + Water = (Light Energy & Cholrophyll) = Glucose + Oxygen

• Found in air
• Found in soil
• Found in phloem, used for respiration & proteins
• Used for respiration, waste product

Leaves:

• Have a large surface area to maximise sunlight absorption
• Arranges so they dont cover any other leaf
• Perpendicular to the light
• HIgh up in the tree

• Photosynthesis can be limited by Carbon Dioxide, Light Intensity & Temperature (Up to 25 degrees)
• If there is more light, more can be absorbed by the plant for photosynthesis, until the rate levels off as it is restricted by another factor (eg. amount of carbon dioxide)
• If there is more carbon dioxide, the rate increases for the same reason^, until a point where it is restricted by another factor (eg. light intensity)
• By increasing the temperature, the rate will increase until 25 degrees, where the enzymes are denatured (can't function) at a higher temperature
• More light is why plants grow better in the summer
• Light, carbon dioxide and chlorophyll must be present for photosynthesis

Glucose is used:

• For respiration
• To convert insoluble starch for storage
• To produce fats or oils
• To produce fats/ proteins/ cellulose for cell walls
• Combined with nitrates from soil to make amino acids

Starch:

• Starch is stored in the seeds and roots as they cannot photosynthesize or get enough glucose
• Seeds store fats and oils as they cannot produce starch

Nitrogen:

• Without nitrogen, plants cannot make proteins, so cannot grow new cells
• Nitrogen is used to turn amino acids into proteins
• Proteins are made up of nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen

Magnesium:

• Plants cannot make chlorophyll without magnesium
• Chlorophyll contains magnesium, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen

• Dead leaves contain nutrients
• The leaves decay and the nutrients are absorbed by the soil
• The roots (root hair cells) absorb the nutrients
• In fields, some farmers have to add fertiliser to the soil as the plants rarely decya as the farmers have taken them away
• In some places, microbes (to decay the plant) cannot survive as it is too acidic, so minerals cannot be recycled