Chapter 6
Photosynthesis
autotroph
 An
organism
that can
make its own
food
 Includes
plants, algae,
some protists,
and some
bacteria
photosynthesis
 The
process
of converting
sunlight to
chemical
energy
Equation for photosynthesis
Carbon dioxide + water yields glucose + oxygen
heterotroph
 An
organism
that obtains
its nutrition by
eating other
organisms
ATP
Energy is released from ATP when a
phosphate group is broken off.
 An
energy storing molecule;
stores chemical energy
produced from photosynthesis
chloroplast
A
structure
found in
plants; where
photosynthesis
occurs
thylakoid
 Membrane
of
grana where
first stage of
photosynthesis
takes place;
light energy is
absorbed
grana
 Structures
in
the chloroplast
that are the site
of
photosynthesis;
(a stack of
thylakoids)
chlorophyll
A
green
pigment that
absorbs
certain
wavelengths
of light
pigment
 Compounds
that absorb
light
carotenoid
 Compounds
that
are accessory
pigments (they
help chlorophyll)
 Absorb
wavelengths of
light that
chlorophyll can’t
 Produce yellow,
orange and
brown colors
stomata
 Holes
in plant
leaves that
take in CO2
and give off O2
and water
 Solution
stroma
in the
space around
the grana
(pl.)
 Granum (s.)
photosystem
 Cluster
of
pigment
molecules in
thylakoid
membrane