Photosynthesis

Objectives

• 1. State the overall equation for photosynthesis and explain why water is included on both sides.

  2. Identify the locations for the light reactions and the Calvin cycle within a plant chloroplast.

  3. Understand the discovery of the photosynthetic processes from an historical perspective.

  4. Understand how light energy is packaged and how its absorption is related to wavelength.

  5. Explain how electrons are captured by and transferred through the various molecules of a plant’s photocenter.

  6. Describe cyclic photosynthesis in terms of the organisms in which it occurs, its energy capture molecules, and its energy yield in ATPs.

  7. Understand how photosystem I and photosystem II in plants produce ATP and NADH.

  8. Describe the Calvin cycle in plants. Include the significance of ATP and NADH and the ultimate product(s) of the reaction.

  9. Understand how photorespiration affects C3 photosynthesis.

  10. Compare C4 and CAM photosynthesis and how they combat photorespiration.

  11. Draw the chemical/physical reactions of the C3 and C4 pathways and their ecological significance.