Chlorophyll

• Plants use chlorophyll to absorb the sunlight. This is actually the pigment that makes green plants green. It causes the leaves to plants to act like miniature natural solar panels, absorbing sunlight and turning it into increased electrical energy in the chlorophyll molecules.
  
  

Sugar Building

• The energy absorbed by the chlorophyll kick-starts a series of chemical reactions. These chemical reactions break apart the carbon dioxide plants absorb from the air through their pores. They use the products to build up sugar molecules, atom by atom. The sugar is stored inside the cells until the mitichondria of the cell break it down for energy.
  
  

Time Frame

• Although plants need sunlight to make their food, parts of the photosynthesis process are actually carried out at night. Green plants continue to break up carbon dioxide and build sugars in the absence of light.
  
  

Other Considerations

• A byproduct of photosynthesis is oxygen. This process is the source of the oxygen in the air that we, and all other animals, breathe.