What is Photosynthesis?

Welcome! 12/9/14
OBJECTIVE: Students will:
◦ Explain the photosynthesis reaction
◦ Discuss the connection between plants & animals

CATALYST:
◦ Complete the half-sheet handout “Photosynthesis
Reading.”

Homework:
◦ DUE FRIDAY: ISN
◦
◦
Check for Unit 3, Signed
Gradesheet, Egg Lab Conclusion, ALL missing
work for Unit 2
DUE MONDAY: HW 3.3 (Practice for Quiz 3.3),
Chapter 2 of Survival of the Sickest
DUE Tuesday, 12/23/14: All Missing work for Unit 3
REMINDER:
Missing Work DUE

If you are not passing…
◦ What should you do BEFORE Friday?
◦ When is 12/23? How many days after we
return from break?
◦ What will happen after 12/12 to the old
assignments from the beginning of 2nd
Quarter (Unit 2)?
◦ What will happen after 12/23 to the old
assignments from Unit 3?
Photosynthesis Reading
Photosynthesis Reading
Photosynthesis Notes
Page 125
What is Photosynthesis?
“Photo” makes me think of _________
“Synthesis” makes me think of ____________
What is Photosynthesis?
The prefix “photo” means “light”
And “synthesis” means “to put together or make”
So photosynthesis means “to make or put together
with light”
More specifically to make food with light energy.
It is the most important
chemical reaction on our planet.
What do plants make during
photosynthesis?
Energy
The sun provides energy called solar energy.
 Molecules also have energy called chemical
energy stored in the bonds between
elements.
 Remember energy cannot be created or
destroyed BUT energy can be changed from
one form to another
 Photosynthesis is the conversion of solar
energy to chemical bond energy

What is the chemical energy?
GLUCOSE!!!!!
 Glucose is a monosaccharide or sugar.
The chemical formula for glucose is
C6H12O6.
 What is so special about Glucose?

◦ It supplies energy for living organisms!
So what is photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis is a process, a chemical
reaction.
 The catalyst (speeds-up the reaction) for
this reaction is sunlight.
 The reactants are Carbon Dioxide
(CO2) and Water (H2O)
 The products are Oxygen (O2) and
Glucose (C6H12O6)

What is the Equation for the
Chemical Reaction of
Photosynthesis?
What is the equation for the
chemical reaction of photosynthesis?
What is the equation for the
chemical reaction of photosynthesis?
Six molecules of carbon dioxide react with
six molecules of water to form 1 molecule of
glucose and six molecules of oxygen.
What organisms do photosynthesis?
Photosynthesis happens in plants, some
types of bacteria, and algae. The specific
location of photosynthesis in plants is
chloroplasts of leaf cells.
 A unique characteristic about plants is
that they make their own food in the
form of glucose, and photosynthesis
explain HOW they do it.

Photosynthesis Diagram
What happens during
photosynthesis?
What happens during
photosynthesis?
Plants capture light energy in their leaves and
use that energy to make glucose
 Sunlight provides the energy needed by
chloroplasts to change molecules of carbon
dioxide and water into glucose
 Oxygen is also released back into the air


Some of the sugar is used right away by the plant for
energy to help it grow!
◦ Plants increasing in size = photosynthesis happening
(ex: leaves getting bigger, trunk getting wider, taller)
A Leaf Cell
Label the choloroplasts,
nucleus, and
Vacuole on the
diagram
Why is this important to us?
Complete the thought questions in
the bottom right corner of the page
Why is this important to us?
We cannot make our own food (glucose,
energy), we must get our food from plants.
Plants are the first step in the food chain.
Even if we eat meat, the animals that we
consume eat plants for their energy.
Why do animals need plants,
and plants need animals?
The oxygen released during photosynthesis is
necessary for all living things.
The Carbon Dioxide released during cellular
respiration is necessary for photosynthesis to
occur.
Putting it Together—Think, Pair,
Share
1.
2.
How do plants obtain (get) energy?
How do humans obtain energy?
(2 min)—Think: write YOUR answer
(1 min)—Pair: talk to your partner; write
your PARTNER’S answer
(2 min)—Share: take notes on what the
CLASS thinks as we discuss
Make Predictions—Vocab

What do you think the following root
words mean?
◦ “hetero”
◦ “auto”
◦ “troph”
I’m Hungry…
Hetero = Different Auto = Self
 Troph = nourish
 A heterotroph is an organism that
cannot make its own food. These are the
consumers of the world, like humans.
However, an autotroph is an organism
that can make its own food; these are the
producers, like plants.

PS Summary
Look on page 5 in your ISN
 Find the page labeled “Left Side Assignments”
 CHOOSE ONE of the assignments to
complete on page 124

Sample assignments…
• Acrostic poem
• Annotated drawing
• CD cover
• Cheat sheet
• News Byte
• Postcard
• RERUN Summary
• Advertisement
• Cartoon
• I used to think but now I
know…
• Making connections
• Missed conceptions
In the remaining time:
UpdateTable of Contents
 Gather make up work
 Work on Egg Lab Conclusions
