Organelles are described in cell biology as subunits in a cell that possess specific functions. These functions build up to form the vital reasons for the survival of the cell. These organelles exists individually within their own lipid bilayer. Distinct organelles exist in eukaryotic cells but prokaryotic cells do not have organelles per se. Organelles can be compared to the existing appliances or pieces of furniture in an office that perform specific functions. The inter relation that exists between these two can be used to elucidate on the structure and functions of organelles in cell biology. The analogy of the chloroplast compared to the office solar panel can be used to understand the functions and structure of these organelles.
Chloroplasts is one of the three plastids in plant cells and are considered the most important. It is of great biological importance since it acts as the location for photosynthesis to take place. It is usually more concentrated around the nucleus. Photosynthesis is the process by which energy is converted into sugars with oxygen as the main by product. The energy is usually from the sun. This process results to the production of free energy that gets stored in the form of ATP and NADPH (Hoober, 1984). Solar panels on the other hand, are used to generate electricity or heat. It consists of a photovoltaic system that consists of a photovoltaic modules that constitutes photovoltaic array that are then converted into solar electricity. The energy is usually from the sun (Wilson, 2016).
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It is notable that both the chloroplast and the solar panel use the sunlight as their sources of energy. In addition, photosynthesis as a biological process takes place under standards and conditions. Similarly, it is notable that each module in a solar panel is rated through its DC output power under standard test conditions (STC). A solar panels contains multiple modules for power to be produced, similarly, chloroplasts are more concentrated in areas such as the nucleus where more energy is needed. The cells in a module must be protected from mechanical damage and moisture equally to chloroplasts in the leaf, they must be protected against photodamage and rigidity (Alberts, 2002).
The chloroplast in the nucleus, cell membrane and the endoplasmic reticulum acts as the key features in pathogens defense (Robert & Hoober, 2006). Likewise, solar panel provide light that act as security in the office. Despite all these similarities, the chloroplast and the solar panel have outstanding differences. For example, the main important function of the chloroplast is to make food while the solar panel is to provide light. The end product of photosynthesis is usually food in form of sugar and energy in form of ADP or NADPH while that of solar panel is energy in form of light and heat. While photosynthesis uses energy, water and carbon dioxide, solar panels use photovoltaic systems (.Lisa, 2017)
A photovoltaic system consists of an array of photovoltaic modules, an inverter, a battery, pack for storage, interconnection wiring and optionally a solar tracking mechanism. On the other hand, a chloroplast consists of outer membrane, inner membrane, thylakoids, stoma, granum, lamella and lumen. A solar panel consists solar trackers while the chloroplast consist the leaves. Chloroplast converts sunlight energy into chemical energy. In addition, it has a mechanism to store the energy long term in the form of carbon-to-carbon bonds of sugar molecules. In contrary, the solar panel lacks an efficient storage system (Wilson, 2016).
Reference
Alberts, Bruce. (2002). Molecular biology of the cell. 4 th Edition. New York: Garland.
Hoober, J. K. (1984). Chloroplasts . Plenum: New York.
Lisa, Krueger. (2017). Overview of First Solar’s Module Collection and Recycling Program. Brookhaven National Laboratory. P. 23.
Robert, R. & Hoober, J. (2006). The structure and function of plastids. Dordrecht: Springer. Pp. 3-21.
Wilson, da Silva. (2016). Milestone in solar cell efficiency achieved: New record for unfocused sunlight edges closer to theoretic limits. Science Daily .
