Plants: Masters of Water and Light

Plants literally rip water molecules apart to survive. It's how they make food.

Inside their leaves, tiny solar-powered factories called chloroplasts get to work in two stages.

First, the light reactions. Sunlight hits the chloroplast, splits water to

steal its electrons, and releases the oxygen we breathe. This process creates little energy packets,

ATP and NADPH. Next, the Calvin cycle. The plant uses that energy to grab carbon

dioxide from the air and build actual sugar. This sugar is the plant's food.

So, all the food we eat and the air we breathe starts with a plant splitting

a water molecule.