During photosynthesis, plants produce glucose (a type of sugar) and oxygen. The process takes place mainly in the chloroplasts of plant cells, where chlorophyll captures light energy from the sun. This energy is then used to convert carbon dioxide (from the air) and water (from the soil) into glucose and oxygen. The overall simplified equation for photosynthesis can be represented as:
\[ \text{6 CO}_2 + \text{6 H}_2\text{O} + \text{light energy} \rightarrow \text{C}6\text{H}{12}\text{O}_6 + \text{6 O}_2 \]
This shows that six molecules of carbon dioxide and six molecules of water, in the presence of light energy, produce one molecule of glucose and six molecules of oxygen.