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The following is a breakdown of the energetics of the photosynthesis process from Photosynthesis by Hall and Rao: [6]. Starting with the solar spectrum falling on a leaf, 47% lost due to photons outside the 400–700 nm active range (chlorophyll uses photons between 400 and 700 nm, extracting the energy of one 700 nm photon from each one)
This is one of two core processes in photosynthesis, and it occurs with astonishing efficiency (greater than 90%) because, in addition to direct excitation by light at 680 nm, the energy of light first harvested by antenna proteins at other wavelengths in the light-harvesting system is also transferred to these special chlorophyll molecules.
Ecological efficiency describes the efficiency with which energy is transferred from one trophic level to the next. It is determined by a combination of efficiencies relating to organismic resource acquisition and assimilation in an ecosystem .
Radiation reaching a plant contains entropy as well as energy, and combining those two concepts the exergy can be determined. This sort of analysis is known as exergy analysis or second law analysis, and the exergy represents a measure of the useful work, i.e., the useful part of radiation which can be transformed into other forms of energy.
The daily light integral (DLI) is the number of photosynthetically active photons (photons in the PAR range) accumulated in a square meter over the course of a day. It is a function of photosynthetic light intensity and duration (day length) and is usually expressed as moles of light (mol photons) per square meter (m −2) per day (d −1), or: mol·m −2 ·d −1.
When Emerson exposed green plants to differing wavelengths of light, he noticed that at wavelengths of greater than 680 nm the efficiency of photosynthesis decreased abruptly despite the fact that this is a region of the spectrum where chlorophyll still absorbs light (chlorophyll is the green pigment in plants - it absorbs mainly the red and blue wavelengths from light).
Primary production in most ecosystems is dominated by the process of photosynthesis, In which organisms synthesize organic molecules from sunlight, H 2 O, and CO 2. [3] Aquatic primary productivity refers to the production of organic matter, such as phytoplankton, aquatic plants, and algae, in aquatic ecosystems, which include oceans, lakes ...
The underlying force driving these reactions is the Gibbs free energy of the reactants relative to the products. If donor and acceptor (the reactants) are of higher free energy than the reaction products, the electron transfer may occur spontaneously. The Gibbs free energy is the energy available ("free") to do work.