Final answer:
Plants can survive in sealed chambers due to photosynthesis which uses sunlight and water to create glucose and oxygen, unlike humans who require oxygen from the environment for cellular respiration. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are interdependent; the products of one are the reactants of the other, maintaining atmospheric gas balance, which is evident from their complementary equations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Plants can survive inside air-tight sealed chambers because they are able to produce their own food and oxygen through photosynthesis. The major reactants for photosynthesis are carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (H₂O), which plants convert into glucose and oxygen using energy from sunlight. On the other hand, humans and other animals cannot perform photosynthesis and rely on inhaling oxygen from the environment to carry out cellular respiration, a process that produces energy by breaking down glucose in the presence of oxygen, releasing CO₂ as a byproduct.
The presence of sunlight and water are essential for plants to perform photosynthesis. Without these components, plants would be unable to produce the necessary glucose for growth and survival, which would have a cascading effect on organisms that depend on these plants for food. Scientists believe that photosynthesis evolved before aerobic cellular respiration because the latter depends on the oxygen produced by the former. Carnivores, such as lions, depend on photosynthesis indirectly since they consume other animals that feed on plants. The evidence that photosynthesis and cellular respiration are interdependent processes is in their complementary nature; the products of one process serve as the reactants for the other.
Plants do undergo cellular respiration in their mitochondria to break down the glucose they create in photosynthesis, providing them energy for their cellular activities. It's called aerobic respiration because it requires oxygen. The equations for photosynthesis and cellular respiration show this interdependency and maintain stable levels of atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide.