Saturday Swot Shop in which I pay attention to things I should have been paying attention to years ago but didn’t !
Last week in Saturday Swot Shop we looked at Magnesium which is important in the wellbeing of plants.
Magnesium is needed by plants to make the green pigment, chlorophyll.
Which brought up memories of chlorophyll and photosynthesis but not of what they actually meant.
So this week we stampede out of chemistry and into biology and as the thing most concerning my biology teacher was ensuring our notebooks were covered in double strength sticky backed plastic ( they’ve probably, unlike my brain, still not decomposed ) we need to start at the beginning :
What is Chlorophyll ?
- It’s the green pigment found in plants which is responsible for leaves being green.
And what does it do ?
- Chlorophyll absorbs sunlight and starts the process of using that light to make energy.
What happens then ?
- The rest of the process is referred to as Photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis? You’ll have to remind me ( I was probably experimenting with cling filming my ears by this stage of the lesson).
- The process whereby the sunlight absorbed by the chlorophyll becomes energy which transforms carbon dioxide (which the plant has absorbed through its leaves) and water (absorbed through its roots and stalk) into carbohydrates and oxygen. The carbohydrate is the energy the plant uses to grow. (The oxygen is released back out through the plants leaves.)
How am I going to remember all this ?
- Here’s a catchy little song that might help. If nothing else sticks in you mind the tune certainly will!
