Each year more than ten percent of the total atmospheric carbon dioxide is reduced to carbohydrates by photosynthetic organisms (Whitmarsh, Govindjee n.pag.). Plants rank among the greatest number of photosynthetic organisms next to some bacteria forms and algae. Dependence on plants is of high value and essential to almost every form of life. Photosynthesis is an important process and is key to a plants survival.
Photosynthesis can be defined as the process by which plants, autotrophic protests, and some bacteria use light energy to make sugars and other organic food molecules from carbon dioxide and water (Campbell, Reece G-9). Plants use photosynthesis to create millions of glucose molecules a second, which in turn creates energy to build leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. They also convert glucose to cellulose, the structural material used in their cell walls. Most plants produce more glucose than they use, however, and they store it in the form of starch and other carbohydrates in roots, stems, and leaves. The plants can then draw on these reserves for extra energy if needed (Photosyn.basics.n.pag.). All of this happens within two phases, the light phase and the Calvin cycle.
The history and the discovery of photosynthesis is rather interesting. Beginning in the 1770's Joseph Priestley, an English chemist, performed experiments showing that plants release a type of air that allows combustion. He demonstrated this by burning a candle in a closed container until it went out. He placed a stem of mint in the container and after several days showed that the candle could burn again. Priestley's work showed that plants release oxygen into the atmosphere. Discovering how plants produce oxygen is one of the most active areas of photosynthesis research today. Building on the work of Priestley, Jan Ingenhousz, a Dutch physician, demonstrated that sunlight was necessary for photosynthesis and that only the green parts of plants could release oxygen.