Lesson 11

PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND CELLULAR

RESPIRATION
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
! All cells process food to obtain the energy
they need.

! Making and using food are two basic life

processes that take place inside cells.

!
! In this lesson, you will be able to explain the
two cellular processes involved in making and
using food and how they relate to each other.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
! The process by which a cell uses the energy in
sunlight to make its own food is photosynthesis.

! In photosynthesis, energy in sunlight is used to

combine carbon dioxide and water.

! These are the things that we give plants to

survive.

! This produces glucose (an energy-rich sugar that

plants use as food) and oxygen.

! These are the things that plants give us to survive.

WHY PHOTOSYNTHESIS IS IMPORTANT
! All energy that fuels life comes from
the sun.

! The oxygen in the air comes from

photosynthesis.

! Plants replenish the oxygen in our

air.

! All of our food comes directly or

indirectly from photosynthesis.
THE PHOTOSYNTHESIS FORMULA
! 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + energy→ C6H12O6+ 6 O2
!
!Carbon dioxide + Water + Light energy →
Glucose + Oxygen

!
!The arrow means produces or yields or
makes.
!The plus signs mean and. 

HOW PHOTOSYNTHESIS WORKS
! Plants absorb water from their roots.

! Carbon dioxide enters plants through small

openings in the leaves called the stomata.

! Inside the leaves, these substances move to

the chloroplasts.

! The chloroplasts are where the chlorophyll

absorbs energy from the sun.

! Chemical reactions produce the sugar that is

the plant’s food.

! Oxygen is released in the air. Oxygen to a plant

is waste.
CELLULAR RESPIRATION
! Cellular respiration and photosynthesis are
opposites.

! Cellular respiration is the process of breaking

down food to release energy.

! Cellular respiration occurs in both plant and

animal cells.

! During cellular respiration, cells combine

oxygen and sugar to make energy.
! In cellular respiration, carbon dioxide and water are
released as waste.

!
! The formula for cellular respiration is

!
! Glucose+oxygen makes energy+carbon dioxide
+water

! C6H12O6 +O2 → CO2 + H2O + energy

! Cellular respiration takes place in the mitochondria.

THE PRODUCTS AND THE
REACTANTS
! Reactants are the things that go into a reaction.

! For example, to make H2O, hydrogen and oxygen

are the reactants.

! In photosynthesis, what are the reactants?

! Products are what are produced, like a product in

a factory.

! When hydrogen and oxygen are combined, water

(H2O) is the product.

! What are the products of photosynthesis?

11
THE CARBON-OXYGEN CYCLE
! The movement of oxygen and carbon
through the environment is the carbon-
oxygen cycle.
THE CARBON-OXYGEN CYCLE