In this video, we're going to talk about how photosynthesis is really just a redox reaction, which recall from our previous lesson videos just means that it involves the transfer of electrons between molecules. And so once again, the overall chemical equation for photosynthesis is a redox reaction. And recall from our previous lesson videos, redox reactions, we can remember by remembering Leo the lion goes ger, and that's because Leo reminds us of substances that lose electrons are oxidized, whereas substances that gain electrons are reduced. And so if you remember, "Leo the lion goes ger," you'll be good on the redox reactions. And so really photosynthesis is a redox reaction, and what we'll see is that by the end of the process of photosynthesis, carbon dioxide or CO2 is going to get reduced. And so that means that it is going to gain electrons. Whereas water, on the other hand, we'll see is going to get oxidized, which means that water is going to lose electrons.
Let's take a look at our example image down below at the chemical equation for photosynthesis to get a better understanding of this. And so what you'll notice is that over here, we have carbon dioxide gas, which is one of the reactants of photosynthesis, and it turns out that there's 6 carbon dioxide gas molecules that are going to react, and there are also going to be 6 water molecules that are going to react. And so the carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight or solar energy are the reactants, and the products are going to be a sugar such as glucose whose chemical formula is C6H12O6, and this is the chemical structure of glucose right here. And then also 6 oxygen gas molecules are going to be produced as well. And so this here represents the entire process of photosynthesis, and what you'll notice is that the carbon dioxide here is actually getting reduced, meaning that it is going to gain electrons as it's used to form glucose. And the oxygen I'm sorry, the water molecule here is going to get oxidized as it's converted into oxygen gas. And so that means the water molecule is going to be losing electrons. It's going to be, essentially providing or supplying the electrons, that are needed to reduce carbon dioxide and form glucose.
We'll be able to talk more and more about photosynthesis and exactly where and how this process works, but, what you'll notice is that this image here looks very similar to an image that we showed you when we talked about cellular respiration. And so in our next video, what we are going to do is compare and contrast the chemical equation for photosynthesis with the chemical equation for cellular respiration. So I'll see you all in that video.