Cells do not use the energy from oxidation reactions as soon as it is released. Instead, they convert it into small, energy-rich molecules such as ATP and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), which can be used throughout the cell to power metabolism and construct new cellular components.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/cell-energy-and-cell-functions-14024533
Yet this amount of energy is enormous. The sun provides more energy in an hour than the United States can use in a year! About 30 percent of the radiant energy that reaches the Earth is reflected back into space. About half of the radiant energy is absorbed by land and oceans.
http://www.need.org/files/curriculum/guides/EnergyfromtheSunStudentGuide.pdf
Adenosine 5'-triphosphate, or ATP, is the most abundant energy carrier molecule in cells. This molecule is made of a nitrogen base (adenine), a ribose sugar, and three phosphate groups. The word adenosine refers to the adenine plus the ribose sugar.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/cell-energy-and-cell-functions-14024533
Figure 2: Cells can incorporate nutrients by phagocytosis. This amoeba, a single-celled organism, acquires energy by engulfing nutrients in the form of a yeast cell (red). Through a process called phagocytosis, the amoeba encloses the yeast cell with its membrane and draws it inside.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/cell-energy-and-cell-functions-14024533
Making the world better, one answer at a time. It is the chloroplast. The chloroplast contain a green pigment, chlorophyll, which captures the light energy from the sun to photosynthesize, thus making food or glucose for the plant. Excess glucose is stored as starch.
http://www.answers.com/Q/What_plant_cell_part_captures_energy_from_the_sun_to_make_food
Photosynthetic cells contain chlorophyll and other light-sensitive pigments that capture solar energy. In the presence of carbon dioxide, such cells are able to convert this solar energy into energy-rich organic molecules, such as glucose. These cells not only drive the global carbon cycle, but they also produce much of the oxygen present in atmosphere of the Earth.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/photosynthetic-cells-14025371
A closed car on a sunny day is a solar collector. As sunlight passes through the car’s windows, the seat covers, side panels, and floor of the car absorb it. The absorbed energy transforms into thermal energy that is trapped inside the car. A greenhouse also makes a great example of a solar collector.
http://www.need.org/files/curriculum/guides/EnergyfromtheSunStudentGuide.pdf
The sun generates energy from a process called nuclear fusion .During nuclear fusion, the high pressure and temperature in the sun’s core cause nuclei to separate from their electrons. Hydrogen nuclei fuse to form one helium atom. During the fusion process, radiant energy is released. It can take 150,000 years for energy in the sun’s core to make its way to the solar surface, and then just a little over eight minutes to travel the 93 million miles to Earth.
http://www.need.org/files/curriculum/guides/EnergyfromtheSunStudentGuide.pdf
© 2006 The Company of Biologists All rights reserved. Figure Detail. Complex organic food molecules such as sugars, fats, and proteins are rich sources of energy for cells because much of the energy used to form these molecules is literally stored within the chemical bonds that hold them together.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/cell-energy-and-cell-functions-14024533
This process, called photosynthesis, is essential to the global carbon cycle and organisms that conduct photosynthesis represent the lowest level in most food chains (Figure 1). Figure 1: Photosynthetic plants synthesize carbon-based energy molecules from the energy in sunlight.
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/photosynthetic-cells-14025371
what type cell can capture energy from sunlight and make it into food
Chloroplast type of a cell can capture an energy from sunlight and make it into food. Chloroplast cell can capture energy from sunlight and make it into food.