Photosynthesis and Respiration: Symbiotic Relationship

My daughter has been learning about photosynthesis in school and I decided to ask her what she had learned. She said that photosynthesis happens only in plants. It is when the plant takes in light and carbon dioxide and makes it into food. The plant gives off oxygen. Animals and people use the oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. The plants use the carbon dioxide from the animals and it starts all over. That's a pretty simple explanation of photosynthesis from a third grader. Accurate in its basic content, but still basically simple. It is probably the view of photosynthesis shared with most other third graders as well as much of the adult population of the world. Photosynthesis and respiration are two interrelated processes that can be explained in the most simplest of forms. Plants use carbon dioxide, give off oxygen, animals use oxygen and give off carbon dioxide and the circle starts over again. It is a symbiotic relationship between plant and animal life. Each needs the other to survive. If it were pursued in greater detail from an average adult, how many would know the true complexity and mystery of these processes that occur at the molecular level.

These two important processes occur within the organic cells at molecular levels, where CO2 and O2 molecules are used in microscopic processes. When the amazing complexities of the molecular processes are considered, it is amazing to behold. The basics of energy production for both plants and animals are regulated at the molecular level. The day to day operation of every function of life is regulated by molecular actions and processes. In order to type out this article, my brain and body are undergoing an incredible amount of microscopic processes. My body is using the pancakes that I had for breakfast as fuel along with the oxygen I breathe in. Of course, some of the pancakes are probably being stored in already well established fatty areas. As my fingers type, chemicals react and energize my muscle cells in order to move my fingers to move across the keyboard. My eyes constantly move across the keyboard, always seeking the correct letters for my fingers to push; I'm not a great typist.

The most amazing area for complex chemical and molecular reactions is within my brain. It is undergoing several different levels of processing to keep my body functioning. Breathing, digesting those pancakes, pumping blood, liver and kidney functions, all the different glandular secretions, even the muscle movements as I gaze in thought out the window as I consider what else to write, are all functions that are controlled by the chemical reactions within the brain.

At an even more profound level, are the chemical processes that are going on while I consider what to write, those elusive processes that are going while ideas are conceived and translated into the physical act of writing. The processes that regulate the actual thoughts are incredible to consider. Are we simply organisms ruled by the complex chemical processes within our brains? Or is there something more to the human mind. There remains much to learn about the processing of the human mind, much more beyond the scope of this paper. The most profound element of human life, all life, is the incredible complexity found within it. The simplest molecules are essential elements for survival of all life, plant and animal.

The flour that made those pancakes came from plants that used CO2 and sunlight, giving off oxygen and my family in turn ingested those lovely pancakes as food, also using the oxygen in the process, while expelling CO2 to be used by other plants in the ongoing cycle of life. Such a profoundly simple view of the incredibly detailed intricate nature of life.