Why does only a tiny percentage of energy of incident sunlight become biomass in green plants?

by CERTs

Question by A M: Why does only a tiny percentage of energy of incident sunlight become biomass in green plants?
See title.

Best answer:

Answer by Shaba
well, not all sunshine falls on green grass (more specifically, chlorophyll). the sunshine that falls on buildings, tarmac, stones, water etc is lost. some is also diverted by the clouds and the atmosphere so that not all the sunlight hitting the earth ends up on plants.

secondly, the plant needs food itself. thus it uses up some energy to produce food and energy for its needs.

the excess that remains is converted into biomass.

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