Timeline of Photosynthesis on Earth4.6 billion years agoEarth forms2.7 billion years agoCyanobacteria become the first oxygen producers2.4 – 2.3 billion years agoEarliest evidence (from rocks) that oxygen was in the atmosphere1.2 billion years agoRed and brown algae become structurally more complex than bacteria4 more rows
MIT scientists estimate that oxygenic photosynthesis — the ability to turn light and water into energy, releasing oxygen— first evolved on Earth between 3.4 and 2.9 billion years ago.
Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar.
There is suggestive evidence that photosynthetic organisms were present approximately 3.2 to 3.5 billion years ago, in the form of stromatolites, layered structures similar to forms that are produced by some modern cyanobacteria, as well as numerous microfossils that have been interpreted as arising from phototrophs ( ...
Whiffs in the air For the most part, scientists agree that oxygen, though lacking in the atmosphere, was likely brewing in the oceans as a byproduct of cyanobacterial photosynthesis as early as 3 billion years ago.
cyanobacteriaAnd some evidence suggests cyanobacteria, the earliest photosynthetic organisms to release oxygen gas as a waste product—although not use it—may have arisen as early as 3.5 billion years ago.
Oxygen can be produced from a number of materials, using several different methods. The most common natural method is photo-synthesis, in which plants use sunlight convert carbon dioxide in the air into oxygen. This offsets the respiration process, in which animals convert oxygen in the air back into carbon dioxide.
waterThe oxygen released during photosynthesis is from the water. The plants will absorb water as well as carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. Later these water molecules are converted into oxygen and sugar. The oxygen is then released into the atmosphere whereas the sugar molecules are stored for energy.
Plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria take in light from the sun, molecules of carbon dioxide from the air, and water molecules from their environment and combine these reactants to produce food (glucose).
Prokaryotes were the earliest life forms, simple creatures that fed on carbon compounds that were accumulating in Earth's early oceans. Slowly, other organisms evolved that used the Sun's energy, along with compounds such as sulfides, to generate their own energy.
Cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, are microscopic organisms found naturally in all types of water. These single-celled organisms live in fresh, brackish (combined salt and fresh water), and marine water.
In plants, algae and cyanobacteria, photosynthesis releases oxygen. This is called oxygenic photosynthesis. Although there are some differences between oxygenic photosynthesis in plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, the overall process is quite similar in these organisms.