Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and a source of hydrogen (usually water), using light as an energy source. Most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A chemical combination brought about by the action of light, as in the formation of carbohydrates in living plants from the carbon di-oxid and water of the air under the influence of sunlight.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Plant Physiol.) The process of constructive metabolism by which carbohydrates are formed from water vapor and the carbon dioxide of the air in the chlorophyll-containing tissues of plants exposed to the action of light. It was formerly called
assimilation , but this is now commonly used as in animal physiology. The details of the process are not yet clearly known. Baeyer's theory is that the carbon dioxide is reduced to carbon monoxide, which, uniting with the hydrogen of the water in the cell, produces formaldehyde, the latter forming various sugars through polymerization. Vines suggests that the carbohydrates are secretion products of the chloroplasts, derived from decomposition of previously formed proteids. The food substances are usually quickly translocated, those that accumulate being changed to starch, which appears in the cells almost simultaneously with the sugars. The chloroplasts perform photosynthesis only in light and within a certain range of temperature, varying according to climate. This is the only way in which a plant is able to organize carbohydrates. All plants without a chlorophyll apparatus, as the fungi, must be parasitic or saprophytic.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun biology The
process by whichplants and otherphotoautotrophs generatecarbohydrates andoxygen fromcarbon dioxide ,water , andlight energy inchloroplasts .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun synthesis of compounds with the aid of radiant energy (especially in plants)
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Several Nobel Prizes for Chemistry have been awarded for work in photosynthesis and respiration, the two main processes in the energy metabolism of living organisms (cf. Section 3.5).
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Development of Modern Chemistry 2010
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Prof. Andersson has published a total of 275 papers in photosynthesis research, biological membranes, protein and membrane purification, and light stress
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Examples of such scientists include Stapp, Patel and those at Berkeley lab who, this year, demonstrated photosynthesis is a quantum mechanical mechanism.
Behe 2009
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However, I do believe recent discoveries of the inherent use of quantum conductivity in photosynthesis and quantum computation in DNA lends support to the idea that we may be getting closer to better defining the gray area between the emperical and the metaphysical.
Aiguy's Computer 2008
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However, I do believe recent discoveries of the inherent use of quantum conductivity in photosynthesis and quantum computation in DNA lends support to the idea that we may be getting closer to better defining the gray area between the emperical and the metaphysical.
Aiguy's Computer 2008
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But photosynthesis is much more efficient than our solar technologies, for reasons that scientists are still working out.
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Berkerly lab finding of the role of quantum mechanics in photosynthesis has certainly removed any doubt of the reality of life directly using quantum mechanics.
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Whether at sea or on land, the chemical process that traps photons and uses them to drive ‘uphill’ energy-consuming chemical reactions, manufacturing convenient energy-storage molecules such as sugars and starch, is called photosynthesis.
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009
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Whether at sea or on land, the chemical process that traps photons and uses them to drive ‘uphill’ energy-consuming chemical reactions, manufacturing convenient energy-storage molecules such as sugars and starch, is called photosynthesis.
THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH RICHARD DAWKINS 2009
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The mystery of how Nature, through photosynthesis, is able to transfer solar energy through molecular systems with nearly 100-percent efficiency appears to have been solved.
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