Photosynthesis Under the Microscope

this is plant leaf producing oxygen bubbles by the process of photosynthesis this footage is sped up in order to show oxygen bubbles growing photosynthesis is process used by plants algae protists and some bacteria to produce carbohydrates and oxygen from water carbon dioxide and sunlight organisms use photosynthesis to create food for themselves in the form of carbohydrates this is done by an organelle in cells called chloroplasts we can see them moving inside these plant cells they are the green round structures seen here chloroplasts can move around in order to get more sunlight when there's little light or move away from strong direct sunlight to avoid damage just like humans too much sun can be bad this process of chloroplast moving to control light exposure is called photorelocation here we can see an oxygen bubble growing and the chloroplast in the plant cells moving around we see lot more oxygen bubbles than carbon dioxide bubbles for few reasons carbon dioxide or co2 is more soluble than oxygen and water this means carbon dioxide dissolves in water similar to how salt dissolves in water so when oxygen levels start building up in the water these oxygen bubbles form more than carbon dioxide ones do carbon dioxide also reacts with water to produce carbonic acid which is completely different chemical and carbon dioxide is also used up in photosynthesis when plants photosynthesize oxygen is somewhat of waste product they do need oxygen just like animals do but they end up producing way more than they actually need that is good thing for all other living organisms that rely on them for oxygen but that is also bad thing for organisms that can be harmed by oxygen these organisms called obligate anaerobes live without oxygen and can actually be killed by it in fact over 2.5 billion years ago the earth had very little oxygen in it it was filled with anaerobic organisms until cyanobacteria came along cyanobacteria which are photosynthetic bacteria slowly produced oxygen over millions of years the rising levels of oxygen slowly killed large number of species on earth and created large extinction event but this large extinction event helps set up the next stage of life multicellular organisms and eventually animals photosynthesis is very complicated but important process in biology while all of the chemical processes of it can't be completely seen through microscope the oxygen produced at the end is and when the footage is sped up it produces very beautiful videos so enjoy this biological marvel okay you