What is the name of the process by which green plants convert the energy of sunlight into chemical energy?

This fundamental life-sustaining process is how plants act as the planet's primary solar-powered factories. Using only sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide from the air, green plants create their own food in the form of a sugar called glucose. This remarkable conversion of light energy into chemical energy is named photosynthesis. The word itself provides a perfect clue, coming from the Greek roots "photo," meaning light, and "synthesis," meaning to put together or create.

The magic happens inside plant cells within tiny structures called chloroplasts. These contain a green pigment called chlorophyll, which is brilliant at absorbing sunlight and is also what gives plants their characteristic color. This captured energy drives the chemical reaction that turns the simple ingredients into energy-rich sugar, which fuels the plant's growth and activities. This process forms the very foundation (Review) of nearly every food web on Earth.

Beyond creating food for themselves and for the animals that eat them, plants perform another vital service. A major byproduct of photosynthesis is oxygen, which is released into the atmosphere. It was this very process, evolving in ancient microorganisms billions of years ago, that transformed Earth’s early atmosphere and made it possible for complex animal life, including humans, to evolve and breathe.