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Plants use a small fraction of the energy received from the Sun
Less that one percent of the energy a plant receives in sunlight ever gets into food and in most cases it is a lot less than that.
To be more specific, one needs to look at the efficiency of photosynthesis and particularly look at the sunlight on a leaf under the most favorable conditions.
Biomass: About 5%.
The efficiency of light getting absorbed by the leaf and of photosynthesis in converting light to chemical energy is about 30%. The chemical process that takes place is only about 30% efficient, so on a good day one is looking at 9% of the energy going into sugar that the plant then uses. Half of that is used by the plant in its own process of staying alive, so about 5% could, in principle, go to growing the plant and producing biomass.
Food: About 1%
Most of a plant is not food. Most grains crops like corn and wheat and rice put a large amount of energy into seeds we call food and that is still a small percentage of the mass of the plant. (Most of the mass is in the body and roots of a plant.) For good crop plants one is still left with only 1% or less of the energy that was delivered to the plant from the sun. (For plants where sugar is extracted, one skips the step of growing the seed or grain and so if a person counts the chemical energy of sugar as food then one can say that sugar cane is up to 7% efficient.)
Other factors:
The sun provides about 1,000 watts of energy to each square meter when it is directly overhead. That is ten times more than many plants can utilize. Even field crops grown for that purpose start to lose efficiency above 100 watts per square meter.
The numbers reported for light absorbed and converted by photosynthesis assume the light hits the leaf at the perfect angle and real plants have leaves pointing is all directions. Of course, much of the sun on a field never hits a leaf and never has a chance to engage in photosynthesis.
If one starts evaluating these other effects which deal with real crops in real growing conditions, one can see how 99.9% of the sun can go to something other than producing food.
Final Note:
This answer discusses food produced by plants. If one further adds in the step of converting plants to animals and animals to Hamburgers, the efficiency gets at least ten times worse.
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Uses energy from sunlight to make food molecules?
Phototroph or photoautotroph...basically plants and photosynthetic bacteria
What uses the suns energy to make sugar food through a process called?
photosynthesis- its used to make food/energy
The process by which a cell captures the energy in sunlight?
Plant cells use chloroplast- animals don't capture energy.
What cell organelles are most closely associated with energy changes in a plant?
the chloroplast and the mitochondria are the organnels closely related to energy production in plants
What are two ways my body uses food energy?
you can use it to create chemical bonds, make more energy, and transport molecules. that is all i have for now but there are more ways.
Who uses energy to make food?
plants
What living thing uses energy from the sun to make food?
plants get their energy and food through a process called photosynthesis. in other words, plants use sunlight to produce energy and food.
How do plants prepare their food?
plants make their own food by photosynthisis which uses the suns energy to produce sugars to make food
What uses energy from the sun to make their own food?
Producers are plants. They're at the bottom of the food chain. They use sunlight and carbon dioxide to make food.
Uses sun's energy to make food?
plants and any other things that are autotrophs
What uses energy from sunlight to make energy-rich food?
Technically, everything-we all get all of our energy from the sun. Plants convert the energy into food that we consume directly, or indirectly through the animals that eat the plants. We gain the energy from eating the plants or the animals.
Uses energy from sunlight to make food molecules?
Phototroph or photoautotroph...basically plants and photosynthetic bacteria
What are the 2 things a plant uses to make its food?
Plants need water and carbon dioxide to make their food. They also need sunlight and rich nutrients from the soil.
Which organisms in the food chain use solar energy as its main source of energy?
Everything in the food chain uses solar energy. Plants use it to grow and to make it's food. Animals need it because that is what they eat and we need animals and plants to survive.
What helps a plant use energy to make food?
The process of photosynthesis is how a plant uses energy to make food. Photosynthesis is also responsible for the way plants give off oxygen into the air.
Why do some plants not need green leaves?
The color green in plants comes from the chlorophyll it uses to make food from the energy of the sun. Some plants are not green and can make the food they need themselves using nutrients in soil and water.
What uses the sunlight to produce food containing chemical energy?
Plants
