Leaf as a Factory

Also called

photosynthesis · leaf cross section · stomata · guard cells · chloroplast · chlorophyll · palisade cells · spongy mesophyll · xylem and phloem · carbon dioxide and water · glucose and oxygen · starch test · iodine test for starch · autotrophic nutrition · प्रकाश संश्लेषण · रंध्र · पर्णहरित

Topics

• Photosynthesis needs carbon dioxide, water, sunlight and chlorophyll; it makes glucose and releases oxygen.
• Carbon dioxide enters the leaf through stomata, tiny pores in the lower epidermis guarded by two guard cells.
• Guard cells swell with water and curve apart to open the pore; when they lose water the pore closes.
• Water comes up from the roots through the xylem of the veins; glucose made in the leaf leaves through the phloem.
• Chlorophyll in the chloroplasts absorbs light energy; the palisade cells near the top hold the most chloroplasts.
• Light energy splits water into hydrogen and oxygen; the oxygen is released, the hydrogen reduces CO₂ to carbohydrate.
• Glucose not used at once is stored as starch, an insoluble carbohydrate, in the chloroplasts.
• Iodine solution turns starch blue-black, so a boiled, decolourised leaf shows where photosynthesis happened.
• Loose spongy cells leave air spaces that let gases reach every cell; the waxy cuticle on top limits water loss.

About this model

A GLB file of about 402 KB, shown in Lably's 3D viewer and, on a phone, placed in your room with AR. Credit: Model, science and animation: Lably (built procedurally with three.js; no downloaded meshes). | CC BY 4.0. Original geometry and animation made for Lably.

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