Describe The Role Of Photosynthesis In Living Organisms

Autotrophs store chemical energy in carbohydrate food molecules they build themselves. Most autotrophs use sunlight to make food, the process is called photosynthesis. Plants, algae, and some bacteria can use photosynthesis. The reactants of photosynthesis are carbon dioxide and water, captures energy into chemical bonds. The products are sugar and oxygen. Plants take carbon dioxide and water and turn it into sugar and other compounds. Sugar is produced and used by plants for its life process, like growing and reproducing. Oxygen is produced to replenish the oxygen that was used up by living things during respiration. Autotrophs make food for their own use but they make enough to support other lives as well. Photosynthesis gives the most energy for life on earth. A small group of

In the light-dependent reactions, energy from sunlight is absorbed by chlorophyll and converted into stored chemical energy in the form of NADPH and ATP. The light-dependent reactions take place in the thylakoid membranes in the granum, in the chloroplast. In the light-independent reactions or Calvin Cycle, the energized electrons from the light-dependent reactions provide energy to assemble carbohydrates from carbon dioxide molecules. The light-independent reactions are sometimes called the Calvin Cycle because carbons are constructed into carbohydrate molecules in a cycle of chemical processes. Even though the light-independent reactions do not use light as a reactant, they require the products of the light-dependent reactions to function. The light-independent molecules depend on the energy carrier molecules to drive the making of new carbohydrate molecules. After the energy is transferred, the energy carrier molecules return to the light-dependent reactions to obtain more energized electrons. Several enzymes of the light-independent reactions are activated by