The Unexplained Efficiency of Photosynthesis

Plants convert sunlight into energy with 99% efficiency, but biologists are puzzled because classical mechanics suggests this should be far less. A quantum phenomenon known as superposition might be the solution to the riddle.

The common explanation of photosynthesis is that plants take sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water and turn them into sugar, oxygen, and energy. This is the formula: 6CO 2 + 6H 2O + sunlight → C 6H 12O 6 (glucose) + 6O 2 + energy. All of this happens inside a plant cell’s chloroplasts, which contain layers of thylakoids, which in turn contain pigment called chlorophyll.

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Chlorophyll is where the whole process begins. These green pigments are mostly made up of long chains of carbon and oxygen, with some areas composed of a magnesium atom surrounded by nitrogen and carbon. This configuration results in the magnesium atom having a single valence electron, and when a photon from the Sun enters the chlorophyll, it…