Name _______________________________
Assignment # ___: Photosynthesis Study Guide
You may use the textbook or lecture/Powerpoint notes to answer the following questions
Section 8.1 (pages 218-221): All living organisms use energy to carry out biological processes
1. Give three examples of cellular processes that require energy
2. What is the primary source of energy for all living things on
earth?
3. What general term applies to creatures that make their own
food?
4. What specific term applies to creatures that make their own
food through photosynthesis?
5. How do heterotrophs obtain their energy?
6. What term refers to all of the chemical reactions that go on
inside a creature’s cells?
7. Two types of metabolic reaction pathways exist.
a. Which pathway breaks the bonds in large molecules to
release the chemical energy inside?
b. Which pathway absorbs the released chemical energy to
build its own new molecules?
8. Is photosynthesis a type of catabolic reaction or a type of
anabolic pathway? (circle one)
9. Is respiration a type of catabolic reaction or a type of anabolic
pathway? (circle one)
10. Fill in the seven missing words in the diagram
11. In the diagram from the previous question, shade the anabolic
pathway GREEN and the catabolic pathway BLUE.
12. Name four different forms that energy can come in.
13. Give the name and acronym for the most important energystoring biological molecule in living things.
14. What are the three main parts of an ATP molecule?
15. In an ATP molecule, where is the energy located that is used
for metabolic pathways?
16. What new acronym is used for an ATP molecule that has
released a phosphate group?
17. Fill in the missing words in the diagram.
18. In the diagram from the previous question, shade the sugar
GREEN, the phosphates PURPLE, and the energy released
YELLOW.
Section 8.2 (pages 222-227): Light energy is converted into chemical energy during photosynthesis
19. Name one example of something that converts chemical energy
into electrical energy.
20. Name one example of something that converts electric energy
in sound waves.
21. Name one example of something that converts radiant energy
into chemical energy.
22. Write the equation for photosynthesis in the blanks provided
above each word in the diagram.
23. There are two phases in photosynthesis that lead to the
construction of sugar molecules:
a. What term applies to the reactions using light energy to
charge up the ‘batteries’ in ATP and NADPH?
b. What term applies to the reactions using the energy stored
in ATP and NADPH to ‘glue’ carbons together to make
simple sugars (like glucose)?
24. What term is used for the complex macromolecules formed
when several simple sugars (like glucose) are joined together?
25. What name is given to the light-absorbing organelles found
inside photosynthetic cells of autotrophs?
26. Name these structures that are part of the photosynthetic
machinery:
a. flattened, saclike membranes that carry out lightdependent reactions
b. stacks of the structures named in “a”
c. fluid-filled space surrounding “a” & “b” that supports the
light-independent reactions
27. Label the structures found inside of a chloroplast:
28. What is the major light absorbing pigment in plants?
29. Which wavelengths of sunlight are absorbed by a green plant to
make sugar?
30. Why do many plants look green?
31. What must occur for the other pigments (red, orange, yellow)
in leaves to be seen? [Hint: look at Figure 8.7]
32. What happens to the electrons inside of a chlorophyll molecule
when they are stuck by sunlight?
33. Oxygen made during photosynthesis comes from the splitting
of what molecule?
34. Electrons raised to a higher energy level when struck by light
enter what system? [Hint: look at the diagram title on page
225]
35. At the end of the light-dependent reactions (first phase) of
photosynthesis, a molecule gets charged up by picking up
hydrogen atoms in the thylakoids. What 5-letter acronym is
used for this energy-carrying molecule?
36. A second molecule is also charged up with the help of synthase
enzymes. This occurs in the stroma surrounding the thylakoids.
What 3-letter acronym is used for this energy-carrying
molecule?
37. Why must there be a second phase to photosynthesis? [Hint:
what’s wrong with just using ATP and NADPH as energystorage molecules?]
38. What two names refer to the second, ‘dark’ phase of
photosynthesis?
39. What term is used for the joining of atmospheric carbon
dioxide with other carbon-based molecules during the Calvin
Cycle?
40. Electrons are transported into the Calvin Cycle by which of the
aforementioned energy-carrying molecules? [Hint: look back at
questions 35 & 36; which one is it?]
41. Why is rubisco such an important biological enzyme?
42. Name two ways that plants use the sugar created during
photosynthesis.
43. Fill in the missing parts of the diagram to show where ATP
loses energy to form ADP, and where NADPH loses some of
its charge and becomes NADP+. Do not worry about how
many of each molecule, just which ones go where. {Hint: see
Figure 8.9)
44. In the diagram from the previous question, color…
a. the ATPs YELLOW,
b. the ADP ORANGE,
c. the NADPH GREEN,
d. and the NADP+ PURPLE.
e. Shade the part where glucose is finally made as BROWN.
45. Why can’t we, as humans, undergo the Calvin Cycle?