Good morning everybody. My lecture today is about energy conversion.
First, what is energy conversion? Conversion means change. For example,
if you cook a meal, you burn wood, coal, gas or oil. Burning is a chemical
change that changes fuel into energy.
Plants may be considered as the oldest converters of energy. They change
energy from the Sun into chemical energy through a process called
photosynthesis. Let me explain to you what photosynthesis exactly is.
Well, photosynthesis is the basic process of food manufacture that takes
place in green plants. An all- important factor in this process is the green
pigment called chlorophyll. The name is applied to two related pigments,
chlorophyll A and chlorophyll B. Chlorophyll is contained in minute bodies
called chloroplasts, which are found in plant leaves. The radiant energy of
the sun is captured by this chlorophyll.
This starts a complex series of reactions. H2O , I mean water, is absorbed
from the soil, and carbon dioxide that is to say C02, is derived from the
air. Oxygen is released from plants and food, especially sugar, (C6H12 06)
is produced during photosynthesis. Mind, as I said earlier, plants may be
considered as the oldest converters of solar energy. But man can't do
without them. In other words, they must be protected because they can't
be replaced by man-made converters. We can't produce air, can we? The
other reason why plants shouldn't be cut down is
that we also depend on them for the food we eat.