Respiration and Photosynthesis Cycle

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Respiration and Photosynthesis Cycle Donna Butler South University Online Respiration and Photosynthesis Cycle Cellular respiration and Photosynthesis are two of the processes and the main ones that are performed by almost all living organisms in order to obtain usable energy from nature. Photosynthesis Photosynthesis is used mainly by plants who can make their own food, while cellular respiration is how most animals receive their energy. The chemical reaction of photosynthesis is carbon dioxide + water + sunlight → glucose + oxygen. The process of photosynthesis is considered the most important process on earth because it changes light energy into what is called chemical energy and it releases oxygen. If we didn’t have photosynthesis, we would not have oxygen in the atmosphere. What happens is photosynthetic autotrophs catches light energy from the sun, and it absorbs carbon dioxide and water from the environment and then it uses this light energy, which combines with reactants in order to produce glucose and oxygen, these are waste products. The glucose is stored, normally as starch and they then release the oxygen out into the atmosphere. Photosynthesis happens in the chloroplast, these are organelles of the plants and also of algae. The chloroplast is made of thylakoid membranes that is surrounded by what is called stroma. This membrane contains molecules of green pigment with is chlorophyll. Photosynthesis has two stages of chemical reactions. The first stage or cycle Light – Dependent Reaction – This reaction takes place in the sunlight and during this stage the light is absorbed and is then transformed to chemical energy. It uses light energy that it gets from the sun to produce ATP molecules, as well as other molecules known as NADPH(NADPH is another energy carrying molecule). The ATP molecule and the NADPH molecule are used as energy

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