Notes # ___ - Reviewing Chemistry through Photosynthesis



Notes # ___ - Reviewing Chemistry through Photosynthesis

The equation for photosynthesis is:

6 CO2 + 6 H2O ( C6H12O6 + 6 O2

Photosynthesis is the process that plants use to generate food. Photo means “light”, synthesis means “to put together”. Plants use “light” to put together sugars molecules called glucose. In order for this reaction to take place, certain ingredients are necessary.

Carbon dioxide + water ( sugar (glucose) + oxygen

Anatomy of a Chemical Equation

6 CO2 + 6 H2O ( C6H12O6 + 6 O2

Reactants (what goes in) ( Products (what you get out)

This is a chemical formula, it represents a molecule. Each element in the molecule is represented by a symbol (capital letter or capital and lowercase letter C = carbon, Na = sodium).

This is a subscript, it tells you how many atoms of the element are in the molecule. If there is is no subscript, it is an invisible 1.

This is a coefficient, it tells you how many of that molecule are in the reaction. If there is no coefficient, it is an invisible 1.

A chemical equation is the way we represent what is happening in the chemical reaction.

The reactants are similar to the ingredients in a recipe. A recipe tells you what ingredients you need and how much of each ingredient needs to be added to the recipe. For example if you are making brownies from a brownie mix, you might represent the chemical reaction like this:

1 box Brownie mix + 2 eggs + 2 Tbsp oil ( 8 servings of “cake like” brownies

If you change the ingredients (reactants) you change the products.

1 box Brownie mix + 1 egg + 2Tbsp oil ( 8 servings of “chewy” brownies

Notice how there are “coefficients” in recipes too – they tell you how much of each ingredient to add, as well as how many servings you should expect to get out.

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