39 thoughts to “#551 Photosynthesis”

  2. Neil, only one sentence? Doesn’t photosynthesis deserve more than one sentence dedicated to its awesomeness?!

    I still think you and this blog are awesome, though.

  4. It’s a common misconception, but the plant uses carbon dioxide and the energy from sunlight to produce sugars; oxygen is produced in a separate step and actually comes from water.

      1. 6CO2 + 6H2O -> C6H12O6 + 6O2

        Summat like that, there’s energy on one side methinks. Need to revise this

    2. Walt & benetherington: Are you guys sure? I mean, I know that there are two reactions that make up Photosynthesis (the light reaction and the dark reaction/Calvin cycle), but I’d say that it’s a pretty accepted principal in Biology that Photosynthesis produces oxygen.

      If Neil got anything wrong, its that he forgot to add water as an input, and sugars as an output.

      But I don’t think that saying that “photosynthesis produces oxygen” is an incorrect statement.

      1. Actually, Carbon dioxide (CO2) is combined with water (H2O) and sunlight to produce sugar (C6H12O6) and Oxygen (6 O2). That all takes place within photosynthesis. The difference in the two steps are in the Calvin Cycle (Carbon dioxide to sugar) and the light reactions (water to oxygen). However, the two are connected by actions and reactions between them through ATP, NADPH (light reactions to Calvin Cycle), NADP, and ADP+PI (Calvin Cycle to light reactions). To sum it all up, Walt and Ben are wrong. But it’s okay….they just have an uncommon misconception ;)

        1. “uncommon misconception”. Hilarious.

          Btw: I nominate Bones9889 as “Nerd of the Day”!

          (This is the first time in about a year and a half that jdurley didn’t win the NotD title!)

  5. Haha I just realized the tiny smiley in the top right hand corner of this webpage. Anyways, I’m glad we can breathe! Plus plants taste yummy. Nice blog. I really like it, I read it every day.

    1. woah.. i read this comment & had to scroll up and have a look myself!.
      I’ve never noticed it before!!!
      its pretty awesome I must say :)

    1. I believe that the smiley thingy is theme dependent – all I know is that I’ve got one, but it’s all the way at the bottom in the center of the page.

      As for photosynthesis, it lets plants live, and plants beget flowers, which look nice. So there’s reason to this one, despite the misstatement.

  7. YES! I’m just getting into gardening (okay only succulents so far, because they’re super easy), but I love to look at my plants and think about how much work those little things do. (I get really geeked out about my plants, yo.)

    1. I’ve planted some flowers and there starting to sprout. It’s a pretty great feelings ;D I get pretty excited, too.

  8. hoorayy photosynthesis! i would always be fascinated by it in science class…

    sunlight gives energy to plants gives energy to plants/crops gives energy to animals/livestock which both give energy to us!

    thank you sun, for giving me energy to live, and for giving me a delicious dinner :]

  13. it’s works too perfectly. it’s too intentional. where there is a design, it points to its Designer.

  14. I hadn’t noticed the tiny smile in the upper right before either, lol :)

    Anyway, I think it’s AWESOME that science made the AWESOME list! I understand why you didn’t put more than one sentence tho; it was a smart move given the scientific debate in earlier comments over the one you did put :)

  15. Photosynthesis is completely awesome! I think it was one of the first bio-chem processes that we learned at school. It was so amazing to find out that boring old plants were actually busy at work doing this totally cool, complex yet brilliantly balanced procedure that ALLOWS US ALL TO LIVE. Caused me to have a brief but intense fling with bio-chemistry.

  17. The fact that Neil only wrote one sentence about photosynthesis allows the rest of us to chime in with our own thoughts and ideas. And that makes Neil awesome!
    P.S. Geeks are hot!

  18. What is even cooler is when you look at the clouds and you see shapes that you never knew existed. Looking at this photo that cloud in the middle looks like a tornado during a what looks like a warm beautiful day…Awesome!

  19. The smell of freshly brewed coffee in the morning (especially when brewed in an old fashioned percolator). It reminds me so vividly of my late nana that it brings tears to my eyes and a smile to my heart all at once. Awesome!

  20. I love that you put it in just one sentence. Because that’s it. Water, sugar, chemistry, whatever: plants allow us to live. It`s so wonderful and simple as breathing…

  23. Well! Finally, someone who isn’t always thinking about things that my friends aren’t. :)

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