These plants form 3-carbon organic acids as their first stable products. The leaf mesophyll produces 4-carbon organic acids as their first stable products. These plants are more efficient in producing sugars because they have little or no sugar loss during respiration. It allows the plant to make organic building blocks, new cells, starch, and proteins. Without this process, life as we know it would not exist on earth.
Plants provide, directly or indirectly, food for all animals and all of our atmospheric oxygen.
Scoring criteria Reproduce the mathematical calculation of the maximum efficiency of photosynthetic energy conversion described at the beginning of this day's notes. Compare the efficiency of photosynthetic energy conversion in C 3 and C 4 plants. Find supporting evidence on the Internet. Print this information. It was 1804 before it was understood that green plants take carbon dioxide out of the air and put oxygen in.