In the world, all living things are either heterotrophs or autotrophs
Hetero means "other"
and troph means "food," so
heterotrophs must eat other food for energy
so a rat might eat plants, seeds, and insects,
and you might eat carrots, or hamburgers, or ice cream
but your body needs to consume food for energy
you can't just create energy out of thin air
no, that's a trick for the autotrophs
auto means "self" and troph means "food," so again autotrophs make their own food
this doesn't mean that plants can cook, it means that they can take water
and carbon dioxide
and the energy from sunlight and create sugars for themselves
and then heterotrophs take advantage of that and eat the plants and get the sugars for themselves
Autotrophs use a process called photosynthesis to create energy molecules from water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight
For every 6 water molecules and every 6 carbon dioxide molecules,
and the energy from the sun
plants can create one glucose molecule, or C6 H12 O6
and release 6 oxygen molecules
Those oxygen molecules are also released for the life on earth, because so many animals, including you and me, use it for respiration
