Concept explainers
Interpretation:
The reason forhuman beings to not produce energy by photosynthesis, however, this process is critical to our survival needs to be explained.
Concept Introduction:
Photosynthesis is a process that harnesses the energy in sunlight to make sugar from water and carbon dioxide in the presence of a green pigment called chlorophyll.
Explanation of Solution
Symbiosis between animals or heterotrophic protist and algae are common in nature, the prominent examples include the zoochlorellae of Hydra viridis or dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) of corals and the many different species of algae found in ciliates. A more curious kind of symbiosis is found among the sacoglossanmolluscs (marine slugs) from the Plakobranchoidea. These animals establish a symbiosis with only a part of their algal partners and produce energy by photosynthesis.
Human beings do not produce energy by photosynthesis because human beings do not have a green pigment and it lies in considering the energy requirement of a large active multicellular animal such as a human being. Every day an adult human requires energy according to its own body weight in a molecule called ATP, which stores the chemical energy released from the oxidation of glucose.
To produce roughly 60kg of ATP, a typical adult human, therefore, requires around 700g of glucose per day. Given the maximum known rates of photosynthesis in higher plants and assuming that the surface area of an adult human skin is around 1.6 m2, a human with green skin could produce a highly disappointing 1% of the daily demand for glucose through photosynthesis. So to meet the energy demands, a photosynthesizing human would have to have a lot more skin.
Human beings do not produce energy by photosynthesis because human beings do not have a green pigment chlorophyll and havea higher energy requirement. But plants and other organisms produce energy by photosynthesis.
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Chapter 19 Solutions
Student Companion for Biochemistry
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- BiochemistryBiochemistryISBN:9781305577206Author:Reginald H. Garrett, Charles M. GrishamPublisher:Cengage Learning