http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/photosynthesis-interrupted-plant-parts-used-generate-electricity-1C9904741
Modifying Natural Courses of
Photosynthesis For “Better” Results
Scientists at the University of
Georgia have discovered a new way to utilize plants for human use. They found
that by completely removing the thylakoids from the chloroplasts and disabling them
on carbon nanotubes, they could force constant production of electrons. This
happens because 100% of photons gained by plants during photosynthesis are
converted into electrons, which then undergo several steps in order to produce
sugars. These electrons would theoretically be used in some locations to
replace batteries. Ramaraja Ramasamay, electrochemist at the University of
Georgia, claims that it is “green energy, 100 percent clean, [and] has the
potential to operate at really high efficiency […]” (Roach, NBC News) He also
just thinks it’s “really cool.”
I’m skeptical of this new discovery.
Removing the thylakoids of a plant is the equivalent of removing a heart from a
person. It wouldn’t last very long. Ramasamay argued that plants do have the
ability to replenish photosynthetic material, and if more future advancements
were made, they could genetically engineer these replacing mechanisms in an
attempt to enhance them. Even so, though, the stability would be only slightly longer
lasting, and the plant would still eventually die sooner than it would have
without the operations.
So my argument is, why save a little
money on batteries at the expense of the oxygen-providing plants? If they are
dying faster, it will have a tremendous effect on all living organisms. This
wouldn’t happen instantaneously, rather over hundreds of years, but the oxygen
and food supply would be slowly dwindling at a quicker pace. In all fairness,
though, I do have my own assumptions of the accuracy of this experiment, and my
suppositions may not even be correct at all. I simply am making inferences
about what would happen if this were to occur, although if detailed research
about a precise way to interrupt photosynthesis without potentially hurting it was
provided, I may have been more sold on the concept.
These ideas contribute to course
concepts this year because it identifies where photosynthesis happens, how it
happens, and how it can be unnaturally modified. It causes me to think about
what can change in an everyday process if another factor changes, initiating a
better understanding, personally, of photosynthesis.
