INTRO TO PHOTOSYNTHESIS

• Photosynthesis


  The process of converting LIGHT ENERGY to CHEMICAL ENERGY (ATP) in order to synthesize or produce GLUCOSE which is the FOOD for the plants
• Photosynthesis


  The process by which plants capture energy from the sun to build carbohydrates (glucose) through chemical pathways
• Photosynthesis


  A process in which sunlight energy is used to make glucose
• Types of Organisms


  • Autotrophs (Photoautotroph)
  • Heterotrophs
• Autotrophs


  Organisms that make their own food, producers, basis of food chain
• Photosynthetic autotrophs


  • Plants
  • Algae
  • Certain bacteria
• Heterotrophs


  Living things that cannot make their own, consumers
• Glucose


  Simple carbohydrate with the chemical formula C6H12O6, stores chemical energy in a concentrated, stable form, the form of energy that is carried in your blood and taken up by each of your trillions of cells, end product of photosynthesis, and it is the nearly universal food for life
• Phosphoanhydride bond


  Breaks down when there is a presence of water (hydrolysis)
• ATP


  The energy-carrying molecule that cells use for energy, made during the first half of photosynthesis and then used for energy during the second half of photosynthesis when glucose is made, used for energy by cells for most other cellular processes, releases energy when it gives up one of its three phosphate groups and changes to ADP
• Glucose and ATP


  Glucose contains more chemical energy in a smaller "package" than a molecule of ATP and is more stable, but is too powerful for cells to use directly. ATP contains just the right amount of energy to power life processes within cells.
• Law of constant volume
• Where photosynthesis takes place

  • Leaves
  • Stoma
  • Mesophyll cells
  • Chloroplast
• Stomata (Stoma)


  Pores in a plant's cuticle through which water and gases are exchanged between the plant and the atmosphere, guarded by guard cells
• Chloroplast


  Organelle where photosynthesis takes place, with inner membrane, outer membrane, stroma, thylakoid, and granum
• Chlorophyll


  Located in the thylakoid membranes, has Mg+ in the center, harvests energy (photons) by absorbing certain wavelengths (blue-420 nm and red-660 nm are most important), plants are green because the green wavelength is reflected, not absorbed
• Photosynthesis


  6CO2 + 6H2O + Light Energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2
• Photosynthetic autotrophs


  Capture light energy from the sun and absorb carbon dioxide and water from their environment, using the light energy they combine the reactants to produce glucose and oxygen, which is a waste product, they store the glucose, usually as starch, and they release the oxygen into the atmosphere
• Stages of Photosynthesis


  • Light Reaction
  • Dark Reaction or Calvin Cycle
• Light Reactions


  Light is absorbed and transformed to chemical energy in the bonds of NADPH and ATP by the thylakoids of the chloroplast
• Dark Reactions


  Take place in the stroma surrounding the thylakoid membranes of the chloroplast, occur without light, also known as the Calvin cycle, the chemical energy in NADPH and ATP from the light reactions is used to make glucose
• Stages of Dark Reactions

  • Carbon Fixation
  • Synthesis of G3P (Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate)
  • Regeneration of RuBP (Ribulose biphosphate)
• Cellular Respiration


  The process of creating cell energy, releases the energy in glucose to make ATP, the molecule that powers all the work of cells
• Cellular Respiration


  C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + Chemical Energy (in ATP)
• Phases of Cellular Respiration

  • Glycolysis
  • Kreb's Cycle
  • Electron Transport Chain
• Glycolysis


  Means "glucose splitting", enzymes split a molecule of glucose into two molecules of pyruvate (also known as pyruvic acid), occurs in the cytosol
• Kreb's Cycle


  Pyruvate molecules produced by glycolysis are transformed into a molecule called coenzyme A (acetyl CoA), discovered by Hans Adolf Krebs, takes place in the matrix of mitochondria
• Electron Transport Chain


  The high energy electrons within NADH and FADH2 will be passed to a set of membrane-bound enzymes in mitochondrion (inner membrane of mitochondrion)