How a leaf makes food.

How does a leaf make food from light?

Setting up the mechanism…

Relative production: 0%
Oxygen atoms come from: No light-driven production
Carbon in sugar comes from: Carbon dioxide

Supply all inputs and connect both outputs.

How does a leaf make food from light?

Light supplies energy for photosynthesis. Carbon dioxide supplies carbon for sugars, while water supplies the oxygen that is released. Shortage of light, water or carbon dioxide limits production. Plants also respire, including in darkness.

CO₂ + water + light → sugar + oxygen

What this model simplifies

Relative limiting-input activity index, not a measured production rate. Net schematic 6CO₂+6H₂O+light→C₆H₁₂O₆+6O₂; oxygen source is water. Plants also respire.

Read the source · openstax.org ↗

Put it to work.

Supply all three inputs so the leaf can make sugar and release oxygen.

Make it work.

Produce sugar and oxygen using light energy.

Run

Fine adjustments 3

Light availability%

Water availability%

CO₂ availability%

How a leaf makes food.

How does a leaf make food from light?

Loading the experiment…

Figuvo

Understand by doing.

Understanding is something you do.

Figuvo is a place to look inside everyday things, build a connection, and discover the idea behind them.

177 interactive experiments. Each has a working model and a challenge to test what you found.

The original inspiration

Levers & fulcrums The surprising gyroscope The field cannon Inside the human body

Original demonstrations by The Bugged Dev. The teaching models and interactions here are new implementations.

Community builds

New teaching models inspired by public builds shared around Anatomy.

Anatomy · the original announcement How a rocket pushes through space · Gustavo Inside a tactile key switch · @retaqib Pressure through the coffee bed · Gustavo The overbalance wheel · Shawn A seconds pendulum clock · @Baconbrix Three feet on the ground · Soju Inside a layered particle detector · Yash A double-deck pressure cabin · Charlie Leave the spent booster behind · @quantapar Principal, interest and escrow · Sean Gear a Martian year · @samani_Two balls in, two balls out · @samani_Two slits, one probability pattern · @samani_Join through a clear plastic cover · Josh Brown Lay pipe without a sharp bend · @Phi10w Eight cylinders and a blower · @love4hxns Four columns under a Joglo roof · Nur Asyrof An office for dependent tasks · Yaroslav Yablonski One image, six editable layers · Meng To The Redis caching machine · @uviii_03 Inside the Sony CMD-J5 · Ann Afterburner thrust stand · Joshua Guo Open-back headphones · Surajan Shrestha Two-thread lockstitch machine · @slashui Signal factory · Dhruval Golakiya

Chemistry

How a leaf makes food.

How does a leaf make food from light?

Setting up the mechanism…

Relative production: 0%
Oxygen atoms come from: No light-driven production
Carbon in sugar comes from: Carbon dioxide

Supply all inputs and connect both outputs.

How does a leaf make food from light?

CO₂ + water + light → sugar + oxygen

What this model simplifies

Relative limiting-input activity index, not a measured production rate. Net schematic 6CO₂+6H₂O+light→C₆H₁₂O₆+6O₂; oxygen source is water. Plants also respire.

Read the source · openstax.org ↗

Put it to work.

Supply all three inputs so the leaf can make sugar and release oxygen.

Make it work.

Produce sugar and oxygen using light energy.

Run

Fine adjustments 3

Light availability%

Water availability%

CO₂ availability%