Plants are an example of autotrophs. Autotrophs sustain themselves without consuming other organic material. Instead they create organic material from inorganic materials.

The photosynthesis equation can be written as:

From this equation, we can see that plants take in carbon dioxide, water, and light energy as reactants and produce glucose and oxygen as products.

Autotrophs are organisms that produce complex organic compounds from substances present in the surroundings. These organisms may do this through the use of energy from light or from inorganic chemical reactions.

In contrast, heterotrophs require organic input in order to generate biological compounds and are unable to use light or inorganic materials for energy.

Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts of plant cells, where carbon dioxide is reduced and water is oxidized to create sugar. During this process electrons demonstrate increased potential energy as they move from water to sugar. The process requires an initial energy input, derived from photons.

Plants are considered photoautotrophs, meaning that they can use the electromagnetic energy from sunlight to generate organic chemical energy. The process for this conversion is photosynthesis, which takes place in the chloroplasts of the plant cells. Sunlight excites electrons, which donate energy to form NADH and ATP. These compounds enter the Calvin cycle, which converts carbon dioxide to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, a sugar that can easily be converted to glucose and used for energy.

The sugars produced from photosynthesis then undergo oxidation via cellular respiration in order to actually produce ATP. Remember that plant cells contain both chloroplasts (to make sugars) and mitochondria (to make ATP).

Autotrophs create organic material from inorganic materials. Autotrophs are self-feeders in that they do not consume other organic materials but rather create their own organic materials. Plants and other photosynthetic organisms are examples of autotrophs.

CAM plants open their stomata only at night, when temperatures are lower and water loss is less severe. This prevents gas exchange during the day thus making them less efficient at photosynthesis, but the water conservation makes it a worthwhile trade off. The processes of glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation, the Calvin cycle and the Krebs cycle occur in all plants.

The leaves are the major sites of photosynthesis in most plants. The chloroplasts are located in the mesophyll—interior tissues of the leaves—and are the primary sites of photosynthesis.

The correct answer is two major stages. The first stage is known as the light reactions where solar energy is converted to chemical energy. The second stage is the Calvin cycle that synthesizes sugar.

Glucose is the six carbon sugar that is the main product of photosynthesis. Water and carbon dioxide are the reactants in photosynthesis. Lipids are fat molecules that store energy in cells.