What process allows green plants to utilize light, carbon dioxide, and water to produce food and release oxygen?

Photosynthesis is the process through which green plants convert light energy, typically from the sun, into chemical energy stored in glucose. This process occurs in the chloroplasts of plant cells, which contain chlorophyll, the pigment that captures light energy. During photosynthesis, plants take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through small openings in their leaves called stomata and absorb water from the soil through their roots.

The light energy is then used to combine carbon dioxide and water to produce glucose, a simple sugar that serves as food for the plant. A byproduct of this process is oxygen, which is released into the atmosphere, playing a crucial role in supporting life on Earth by providing the oxygen we breathe.

The other options, such as osmosis and transpiration, refer to different biological processes. Osmosis is the movement of water across a semipermeable membrane, while transpiration involves the evaporation of water from the plant's surfaces, specifically from leaves. Photosynthetic respiration is not a commonly used term in plant biology and does not accurately describe the synthesis of food and the release of oxygen as seen in photosynthesis.