What Happened to the Sun?
By: Deniz Altintas
What Happened to the Sun?
Have you ever waken up to a pitch black room with no source of light coming from any direction, as if you were in some new, parallel Universe? Well if you haven't, I'll have you know it's terrifying! It's exactly what happened to me this morning, actually. At first, I thought maybe I had woke up in the middle of the night, but I noticed my clock read 8:32 AM, and knew something was wrong. After making my way downstairs, I saw my parents watching the news. Apparently, the sun had unknowingly disappeared! It was all shocking, and it made me worried. Without the sun's light, how would we survive? From what we had learned in science on photosynthesis, I knew we were in big trouble!
What Happened to the Sun?
Photosynthesis is the process where radiant energy (all energy originates from the sun) is used to turn water and carbon dioxide (reactants) into glucose and oxygen (products). The formula for this is 6CO2 (carbon dioxide)+6H20 (water)->C6H1206 (glucose)+602 (oxygen). The change of energy goes from radiant (sun) to chemical (the making of glucose and oxygen). Without the sun's light, the plants wouldn't be able to make glucose, which is their food, meaning they would die. If the plants died, that would mean we would eventually run out of oxygen (90% of our oxygen comes from plants), meaning we would eventually die! Animals would also die because the energy (glucose) they get from the plants wouldn't be received. Based off of this, you are able to see that on the food chain, plants are located at the bottom, because they are producers which consumers consume in order to get energy. In full depth and conclusion, the sun radiates its light onto the plants, or the producers. The carbon dioxide then goes through the stomas of the producer, or the opening spaces on the underside of the leaves that allow gas exchange, and the water the plant receives from the roots is directed into the leaves of the plant. Chloroplasts, the organelles of a plant cell, are the parts of the leaf that photosynthesis occurs in. The chlorophyll in the chloroplasts are what give the leaves and stem of the plant its green color. After the plant has used chemical energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose, which the plant uses at its food, oxygen is also made and is released through the stomas and helps all living organisms.
What Happened to the Sun?
As you can see, I had a huge reason to worry this morning about the disappearance of the sun. Fortunately, the sun reappeared earlier in the day, not that any one knows how or why it wasn't visible earlier. Maybe you now understand the value of photosynthesis, because without it, living organisms would need to find a new way of life. After the sun had reappeared, the first thing I did was go out into my backyard and plant flowers and other plants. I think I now fully understand they're importance and how nothing would be able to sustain life without them, and thought it would be nice to have some handy oxygen! I recommend you go out into the fresh air and plant greenery, too!