How does photosynthesis work?

 We may not notice it and not everybody knows the importance of it, but Photosynthesis is very important for everyone to get to their energy. Photosynthesis is taking place nearly all the time. Even now while writing this blog post, plants and other organisms may transform light energy into chemical energy.  

But how does this work and where does it take place? To answer this question, the structure of a cell should be clear to anyone, because not every cell can do photosynthesis. Only cells with chloroplasts can do photosynthesis. These are plant cells. But to perform photosynthesis you need more than just a plant cell.




Sunlight, carbon dioxide and water are needed to start the process of photosynthesis.

Once everything is given, the cell starts the process in the chloroplast in the form of light reactions and the Calvin cycle. As soon as the sunlight touches the Thylakoids membrane who is in the chloroplast, the sunlight gets transformed into chemical energy with the use of water (Brookshire, 2020). A product that is produced by this process is oxygen.

The chemical energy is used by the Calvin cycle to fuel the assembly of sugar molecules. The Calvin cycle takes place in the stroma (also located in the chloroplast) and forms glucose and other carbohydrate molecules. The Calvin Cycle is divided into three important stages.

Carbon fixation – Adenosine triphosphate is divided into Adenosine diphosphate.

Reduction – NADPH gets transformed into NADPH + H and a product of this breakdown is sugar.

Regeneration- The stage of regeneration is needed to restore the acceptor molecule (ribulose-1,5-biophosphate) so that the Calvin cycle can start over again (Studyflix, n/a).


To sum it up a little bit, carbon dioxide, water and sunlight are the most important elements to start the process of photosynthesis – except for the chloroplasts. The end products of this process are sugar and oxygen that are released by the plants. That means that the correct formular for the photosynthesis is –> 6CO2 + 6H2O --> C6 H12 O6 + 6O2. 





To understand the importance of the photosynthesis it is important to know that energy cannot be created or killed. Energy can only transform into another form of energy.

Plants get their energy from the sunlight. There it gets transformed into chemical energy. And as animals or humans eat plants, the energy gets transformed into kinetic energy to move their body or for other body functions like breathing or digestion. So, we notice that the energy is given from one organism to another organism all the time. So, plants produce their own food by using the energy from the sun and carbon from carbon dioxide.


That is the reason why plants are photoautotrophs. Certain types of bacteria and algae are autotrophs (BD Editors, 2018). They are able to produce their own food as well. Heterotrophs are not able to produce their own food. These are organisms who eat plants to get their energy. A good example for a heterotroph is a bear. He gets his energy from eating animals.  






  • Bethany Brookshire (2020). Explainer: How photosynthesis works. ScienceNewsExplores. https://www.snexplores.org/article/explainer-how-photosynthesis-works ainer: How photosynthesis works (snexplores.org)
  •  Studyflix. Calvin Zyklus. Calvin Zyklus. https://studyflix.de/biologie/calvin-zyklus-2200 erblick, Einzelschritte und Bilanz · [mit Video] (studyflix.de) 
  • BD Editors (2018). Autotroph. Biology Dictionary. https://biologydictionary.net/autotroph/ ph - Definition, Types and Examples | Biology Dictionary 

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