PHOTOSYNTHESIS
Big Idea 2 & 4/Topic 10
BIG IDEA 2 & 4
MAIN TOPICS
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Photosynthetic Organisms
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The Process of
Photosynthesis
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Plants Convert Solar
Energy
Big Idea 2: Energy - Biological systems utilize free energy and molecular
building blocks to grow, to reproduce and to maintain dynamic homeostasis.
Big Idea 4: Interactions - Biological systems interact, and these systems and
their interactions possess complex properties.
Learning Outcomes
Photosynthetic Organisms
Explain how autotrophs are able to produce their own food.
Describe the three major groups of photosynthetic organisms.
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Plants Fix Carbon Dioxide
Describe the components of a chloroplast, and distinguish the part of a
chloroplast that absorbs solar energy from the part that forms a
carbohydrate.
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Other Types of
Photosynthesis
Compare the roles of oxygen and carbon dioxide in autotrophs and
heterotrophs.
The Process of Photosynthesis
Describe the overall process of photosynthesis.
Essential Knowledge
Compare energy input and output of the light reaction.
Compare carbon input and output of the Calvin cycle reaction.
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1.B.1.a.3
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2.A.2.a-d
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4.A.2.g
Plants Convert Solar Energy
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4.A.6.a, c, d
Describe the relationship between wavelength and energy in the
electromagnetic spectrum.
Explain how redox reactions are used in photosynthesis.
Describe the role of enzymes during photosynthesis.
Explain the role of photosynthetic pigments in harnessing solar energy.
Examine how ATP and NADPH are produced from redox reactions and
membrane gradients.
Describe the movement of electrons from water to NADP+ in the light
reactions.
Plants Fix Carbon Dioxide
Describe the three steps of the Calvin cycle and when ATP and/or NADPH is
needed.
Evaluate the significance of RuBP carboxylase enzyme to photosynthesis.
Explain how glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) is used to produce other
necessary plant molecules.
Other Types of Photosynthesis
Compare the internal location of photosynthesis in C3 and C4 plants.
Contrast C3/C4 modes of photosynthesis with CAM photosynthesis.
Explain how different ways of achieving photosynthesis allow plants to adapt
to particular environments.
Essential Questions:
What types of organisms use photosynthesis to obtain the free energy necessary for life processes?
How do plants capture solar energy and convert it to chemical energy of food?
What is the relationship between photosynthesis and cellular respiration in terms of reactants and
products? How are these processes interdependent?
Plants do photosynthesis, a complicated process, and without plants, we’d all be dead.
– Pamela Ronald
ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY
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Photosynthesis
Autotrophs
Heterotrophs
Stomata
Chloroplasts
Stroma
Thylakoids
Grana
Chlorophyll
PHOTOSYNTHETIC ORGANISMS
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Light Reactions
Calvin cycle reactions
Absorption spectrum
Carotenoids
Photosystem
Noncyclic pathway
Electron transport chain
Cyclic pathway
ATP synthase
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Chemiosmosis
Carbon dioxide fixation
RuBP carboxylase
C3 plants
Photorespiration
C4 plants
CAM