SUN'S ENERGY

  

Hi adoring grandparents! 

Ryan -- and we -- are very proud of this great explanation of how the California condor gets its energy from the sun. Maybe we have a budding biochemist here!

Rob

Dear Ryan,

I was so impressed with the paper you wrote on the movement of energy from the sun to the California Condor that I copied it into digital form. I like the fact that you are learning various scientific disciplines and fitting them together to understand phenomena in the world you are acquainted with. I see in your statement a synthesis of biology, chemistry, physics and ecology. Any of these fields offers opportunity for you to continue study in depth.

I hope you recognize your own unusual abilities to remember data and to synthesize facts and processes into reasoned analysis. You will eventually have to choose a specialization. For now you can absorb as much information as your brain can store and keep seeking to learn from everyone and everything  that comes your way.

Always Be Grateful and Never Be Discouraged,

ellie

Life Properties by Ryan Clayton (Jan 2, 2017)

    The energy that the California Condor uses in its cells is originally created in the sun by fusion. This energy is released from the sun. It is trapped by the chloroplasts and chlorophyll of the California Aster. The sun energy (and CO2 taken in by the plant's stomata) joins up with water taken to the leaves by osmosis and is used to make glucose. This is called photosynthesis.

    When the plant is eaten by the Giant Kangaroo Rat, the glucose (a carbohydrate) is taken to the rat's mitochondria(s). The mitochondria breaks the glucose apart in a process called cellular respiration and releases ATP (aclenasine triphosphate) energy. This can help the rat survive (breathe, pump blood, etc.) until it is eaten by the San Joaquin Kit Fox.

    When the rat is eaten by the Kit Fox, its glucose is taken the kit fox's mitochondria. This does cellular respiration by breaking atoms off the glucose molecule, which releases ATP energy. The energy is sent to the fox's ribosome and is used to make proteins out of amino acids. When the glucose is broken up, it also releases CO2 and H2O making it the reverse of photosynthesis (CO2+H2O>C6H12O6+O2).

     When the Kit  Fox dies and is eaten by the condor the glucose is taken to the condor's mitochondria, cellular respiration takes place. It is broken down into energy, which came from the kit fox, which came from the rat which got the energy from the flower that got its energy from the sun.  

Ryan Clayton