Transcript:

Hi! So yesterday, we looked at the question: how do trees get their mass? And the answer is through this process called photosynthesis, which, surprisingly enough, is enabled by quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is at the root of the ability of a tree to trap solar energy or light energy and convert it into chemical energy. The phenomenon that is at work is called quantum coherence.

Here is how it works. In the chloroplast, which is the green portion of the leaf, a photon gets absorbed, and it is used to knock off the oxygen from a water molecule. So the plant uses water, absorbs the photon, knocks off the oxygen. The hydrogen then combines with the CO2 to form glucose. All this is happening in the chloroplast of the cell, and the enabling step is the step called quantum coherence that allows extremely high efficiency in trapping the photon. One hundred percent of the photons are used; nothing is lost. It is at that efficiency that the leaf is operating, and consequently, life can happen.

Quantum mechanics is at the source of life on this planet. Now you know.