how do plants change proteins to carbohydrates? where do plants get the elements needed to do this?
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I remember learning about this very complex process, its called Gluconeogenesis and if you do a simple search you can find the step by step processes!
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Water and "nutrients" depending on the specific type of cell. Plant cells need inorganic nitrogen compounds (ammonia, nitrate), phosphate, iron, magnesium, manganese, copper,...\nAnimal cells need organic substances like sugars or amino acids (which plant cells can produce on their own) additionally to vitamins and ions (iron, copper, cobalt, zinc, molybdenum, iodine, selenium,...)
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Carbohydrates are molecules that contain oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon atoms. They may also contain other elements such as sulfur or nitrogen, but these are usually minor components. They consist of monosaccharide sugars, of varying chain lengths, that have the general chemical formula Cn(H2O)n or are derivatives of such.The smallest value for n is 3. A 3-carbon sugar is referred to as a triose, whereas a 6-carbon sugar is called a hexose (see monosaccharides below). Certain carbohydrates are important for storing and transporting energy in most organisms, including plants and animals, and are major structural elements in many organisms (eg cellulose in plants). In addition they play major roles in cell to cell communication, the immune system, fertilization, pathogenesis, blood clotting, and development. Carbohydrates can be classified by the number of constituent sugar units: monosaccharides (such as glucose and fructose), disaccharides (such as sucrose and lactose), oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides (such as starch, glycogen, and cellulose).\n\nPure carbohydrates contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, in a 1:2:1 molar ratio, giving the general formula Cn(H2O)n. (This applies only to monosaccharides, see below, although all carbohydrates have the more general formula Cn(H2O)m.) However, many important carbohydrates deviate from this, such as deoxyribose and glycerol. Sometimes compounds containing other elements are also counted as carbohydrates (e.g. glucosamine and chitin, which contain nitrogen).\n\nThe simplest carbohydrates are monosaccharides, which are small straight-chain aldehydes and ketones with many hydroxyl groups added, usually one on each carbon except the functional group. Other carbohydrates are composed of monosaccharide units and break down under hydrolysis. These may be classified as disaccharides, oligosaccharides, or polysaccharides, depending on whether they have two, several, or many monosaccharide units.\n\nNutrition\nCarbohydrates require less water to digest than proteins or fats and are the most common source of energy. Proteins and fat are vital building components for body tissue and cells, and thus it could be considered advisable not to deplete such resources by necessitating their use in energy production. Carbohydrates, like proteins, contain 4 kilocalories per gram while fats contain 9 kilocalories and alcohol contains 7 kilocalories per gram.\n\nBased on evidence for risk of heart disease and obesity, the Institute of Medicine recommends that American and Canadian adults get between 40-65% of dietary energy from carbohydrates.[1] The Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization jointly recommend that national dietary guidelines set a goal of 55-75% of total energy from carbohydrates.[2]\n\nFoods that are high in carbohydrates\nBreads, pastas, beans, potatoes, bran, rice and cereals are all high in carbohydrates.\n\nClassification\nDietitians and nutritionists commonly classify carbohydrates as simple (monosaccharides and disaccharides) or complex (oligosaccharides and polysaccharides), depending on their chemical structure. The term complex carbohydrate was first used in the Senate Select Committee publication Dietary Goals for the United States (1977), where it denoted "fruit, vegetables and whole-grains".[3] Dietary guidelines generally recommend that complex carbohydrates and nutrient-rich simple carbohydrates such as fruit and dairy products should make up the bulk of carbohydrate consumption. The USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 dispenses with the simple/complex distinction, instead recommending fiber-rich foods and whole grains.[4].\n\nThe glycemic index and glycemic load systems are popular alternative classification methods which rank carbohydrates based on their effect on blood glucose levels.
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All green plants need light to make carbohydrates,their food, which in common terms we say starch,thro' photosynthesis.For this photosynthesis, plant requires Sunlight,chlorophyll & water.
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Cellulose is the substance that makes up most of a plant's cell walls. Cellulose is usually described by chemists and biologists as a complex carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are organic compounds made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen that function as sources of energy for living things. Plants are able to make their own carbohydrates that they use for energy and to build their cell walls.
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Animals inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. Green plants are the only plants that produce oxygen and make food, which is called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis means ''putting together with light.'' This takes place in chloroplasts, which have chlorophyll in them. Chlorophyll absorbs the sunlight. From sunlight, green plants combine carbon dioxide and water to make sugar and oxygen. Green plants use sugar to make starch, fats, and proteins. There are tiny pores called stomota. Oxygen and carbon dioxide enter and leave through the stomata.\nhttp://library.thinkquest.org/3715/photo3.html\n\nImportance of Photosynthesis\n\nAnimals and plants both synthesize fats and proteins from carbohydrates; thus glucose is a basic energy source for all living organisms. The oxygen released (with water vapor, in transpiration) as a photosynthetic byproduct, principally of phytoplankton, provides most of the atmospheric oxygen vital to respiration in plants and animals, and animals in turn produce carbon dioxide necessary to plants. Photosynthesis can therefore be considered the ultimate source of life for nearly all plants and animals by providing the source of energy that drives all their metabolic processes.
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Nitrogen is the key element which gives proteins their functionality. The body needs proteins to build and repair tissues. Animals get these proteins from plants who get it from the air. The nitrogen in the air also keeps us from bursting due to excessive respiration.
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Photosynthesis is an important biochemical process in which plants, algae, and some bacteria convert the energy of sunlight to chemical energy. The chemical energy is used to drive synthetic reactions such as the formaton of sugars or the fixation of nitrogen into amino acids, the building blocks for protein synthesis. Ultimately, nearly all living things depend on energy produced from photosynthesis for their nourishment, making it vital to life on Earth. It is also responsible for producing the oxygen that makes up a large portion of the Earth's atmosphere. Organisms that produce energy through photosynthesis are called photoautotrophs. Plants are the most visible representatives of photoautotrophs, but it should be emphasized that bacteria and algae also contribute to the conversion of free energy into usable energy.
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Go to "protein" on wikipedia ( put, protein, in address bar ) then scroll down to "synthesis", for the process. It is too  long a story for my typing skills. The wiki article is not too technical.
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Each organism has its own type of proteins. If you eat a chicken finger, and a beef burger and a fish sandwich, you have taken in fish, chicken, cow and wheat protein. Your body digests it by separating the proteins into amino acids. These then are put back together into human proteins. Theproteins and all different. proteins of the original meat or plant are different colors and different amino acids. The essential amino acids we need are obtained best by a variety of proteins. Lobster, pig, lamb, clam, soy, nut, are all
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This is basic biochemistry.  All cells (really, all bacteria, all fungi, all plants, all animals) use glucose or other simple sugars as a main source of fuel for energy generation.  (Some will argue that plants actually produce glucose, they both produce and consume it).  The process of glucose breakdown is glycolysis, and it generates energy in the form of ATP, and converts molecules such as NADH to NAD+.  This electron loss gets passed through the electron transport chain  in the mitocondria to generate more ATP.  \n\nCarbohydrates include complex and simple sugars.  Simple sugars can be broken down directly in cells, there are specific receptors that bring in the sugar.  Complex carbs such sucrose (a disaccryide, or a molecule containing two simple sugars) just contain more than one simple sugar in a chain.  They are broken down in the gut by specific enzymes that break the chain and release simple sugars.  Starch is a form of a carbohydrate, but not digestable to mammals, because we lack the enzyme to break it down.  Some bacteria don't though, and they live inside the gut of some mammals such as cows, and when cows eat grass, the starch is broken down by the bacteria and some of it is released into the gut.  So thats why mammalian herbavours exist.  \n\nFat metabolism.  Fats are long carbon chain connected at one end, usually three are connected to glycerol, this is called a triglyceride, and is a perferred form of storage.  Fats are broken down by chopping the carbon chain and generating energy.  Fat burning is slow and fat is a backup fuel source; the primary being simple sugars. \n\nProtein metabolism.  Proteins are digested by proteases in the gut, and the free amino acids are absorbed into the blood stream, where they can enter cells.  Cells can utilize amino acids for energy, but it's not that efficient.  Instead cells utilized amino acids for building new proteins; including the 'essential' amino acids, those that can't be generated by mammalian cells (we lack the enzymes).  So some amino acids are absolutely critical for our well-being.  \n\nLow carb diets simply don't have much carbs, and force the body to switch to fat to burn (in theory).  In reality it doesn't work too well.  During initial exercise, muscles use glycogen, a stored form of glucose, for energy. Also fat is utilized, and a bit of protein.  After 2 hours of exercise (or so, depending on the person), muscle glycogen is depleted, and body must use fat and glucose and protein.  If you do not intake glucose during this exertion, your performance will rapidly drop off; you can only burn so much fat at a time.  So the best advice for fat burning is exercise (at 60-70% max heart rate) for an hour or two, 3, 4x a week, and keep hydrated with water or gatoraid.  \n\nHigh carb diets make it easier for long term exercise by increasing the amount of muscle glycogen.
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Depending on the plant...most plants in general need H2O (water), Co2 (carbondyoxide), and sunlight.  They say talking to a plant helps because of t he CO2 we give off.
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Life proceeds on chemistry.  Consumption of carbon proteins (or photosynthesis in plants) leading to the production of ATP (adenosine triphosphate).  ATP, being the energy storage and transfer molecule in just about all living cells is truly the stuff of life.
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There is nitrogen in some carbohydrates (chitin is an example, composed of N-acetylglucosamine), so nitrogen is not the answer.\n\nSulfur (in the amino acids cysteine and methionine) is probably the closest answer. I can't think of any examples of naturally occuring sulfur in carbohydrates or lipids, but nature is so diverse, I bet it exists.
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You're jumping from macro to micro.\nOne requires proteins and one requires chlorophyll (C55H70MgN4O6).
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carbohydrates is formed as a result of photosynthesis.The chlorophyll,a green colour pigment in leaves helps in converting co2 into carbohydrates.The carbohydrates is formed from two types of reactions namely light and dark reactions.There are many photosynthetic pigments involve in the conversion of co2 into carbohydrates.
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The sources of energy to animals (including humans) are carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins.  Carbohydrates include sugars, starches, and cellulose.\nHumans can digest proteins, lipids, sugars and starches, but not cellulose.  So, we can get energy by eating plants (or parts of plants) that contain proteins, lipids, sugars, and/or starches.  We can't get energy from sources that only have cellulose.  For instance, we don't get any energy from celery or lettuce, though we can get vitamins and minerals, maybe some other nutrients also.  \nRabbits, horses, and cattle eat large amounts of plants containing cellulose as the main energy source.  They carry microorganisms in their intestines that help them digest the cellulose, breaking it down into sugars.  Some microorganisms further process these into proteins.  However, humans don't host this kind of microorganism.