The definition of a churn is a device for making butter. An example of a churn is what the Amish use to make butter. verb. To churn is defined as to stir or shake milk or cream with intense movements in the process of making butter, to stir up and agitate, or to produce something at a rapid and regular rate. An example of to churn is for a boat to create waves while moving quickly through the water .
Quick Answer. Plants absorb energy from the sun and use photosynthesis to make sugars. Animals have mitochondria that use the sugars provided by plants to produce their own cellular energy. Plants that produce their own food, and food for other plants and animals using photosynthesis, are called autotrophs.
In the process of making sugar, plant cells also lock some of the energy they collected from sunlight into the sugar molecule. Okay, great. So how do cells (remember, both plant and animal cells need energy, and neither can directly use the energy provided by the sun) get the energy out of the sugar molecule? They do it with a process called cellular respiration. In cellular respiration, cells use oxygen to break the sugar molecule.