Photosynthesis in plants and a few bacteria is responsible for feeding nearly all life on Earth. It does this by taking energy from the sun and converting it into a storable form, usually glucose, which plants use for their own life processes. Animals that consume plants also make use of this energy, as do those that consume those that consume plants, and so on to the top of the food chain.
As important a job as making all of the world's food is, there's another vital function that photosynthesis performs: It generates the oxygen that oxygen-breathing animals need to survive. But here we animals repay the favor. We exhale the carbon dioxide that plants need for photosynthesis.
This feature takes a look at the oxygen/carbon dioxide cycle and at the process of photosynthesis. Also included are a few puzzlers with answers that may surprise you.
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