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What Does Photosynthesis Produce?

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Written by
Melissa Petruzzello
Melissa Petruzzello is Assistant Managing Editor and covers a range of content including plants, algae, and fungi; insects and spiders; and renewable energy and environmental engineering. She also handles...
Melissa Petruzzello
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Sunlight shining on leaves. Photosynthesis
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Photosynthesis produces sugar, with oxygen gas as a by-product. The process of photosynthesis is commonly written as: 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6 + 6O2. This means that six carbon dioxide molecules and six water molecules are converted by light energy captured by chlorophyll (implied by the arrow) into a sugar molecule and six oxygen molecules. The sugar is eventually converted to energy used by the organism, and the oxygen is released into the environment.