Chp 7 objectives

Why This Chapter Matters

1. About 160 billion metric tons of organic material are produced on Earth each year by photosynthesis.

2. All of the food consumed by humans can be traced to photosynthetic plants.

3. Photosynthesis provides materials used for clothing, housing, heating, pharmaceuticals, and cooking.

4. The chemistry of photosynthesis affects our global environment.

Chapter Objectives

Biology and Society: Biofuels

1. Describe the advantages of biofuels over fossil fuels.

The Basics of Photosynthesis

2. Describe the structure of chloroplasts and indicate where the chlorophyll molecules are located. Explain how carbon dioxide and oxygen move in and out of leaves.

3. Explain how the process of photosynthesis is similar to the reverse of cellular respiration.

4. Compare the reactants and products of the light reactions and the Calvin cycle.

The Light Reactions: Converting Solar Energy to Chemical Energy

5. Define wavelength and the electromagnetic spectrum. Identify the wavelengths that are absorbed by and reflected from an object that appears green.

6. Explain how Theodor Engelmann was able to determine that only certain wavelengths of light are used in photosynthesis.

7. Compare the functions of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoids.

8. Explain how the energy of photons is transferred within a photosystem.

9. Compare the water-splitting and NADPH-producing processes of the light reactions.

10. Compare the process of ATP production in the inner mitochondrial membrane to the
thylakoid membrane of chloroplasts.

The Calvin Cycle: Making Sugar from Carbon Dioxide

11. Describe the reactants and products of the Calvin cycle. Explain why this cycle is
dependent on the light reactions.

Evolution Connection: Solar-Driven Evolution

12. Compare the mechanisms that C3, C4, and CAM plants use to obtain carbon dioxide.