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Photosynthesis is the process
by which plants, some bacteria, and some protistans use the energy from sunlight to produce sugar, which cellular respiration
converts into ATP, the "fuel" used by all living things. The conversion of unusable sunlight energy into usable chemical energy,
is associated with the actions of the green pigment chlorophyll. Most of the time, the photosynthetic process uses water and
releases the oxygen that we absolutely must have to stay alive. Oh yes, we need the food as well!
Cellular Respiration Cellular
respiration is the process in which the chemical bonds of energy-rich molecules such as glucose are converted into energy
usable for life processes. Oxidation of organic material—in a bonfire, for example—is an exothermic reaction that
releases a large amount of energy rather quickly.
Calvin Cycle
The Calvin cycle is a metabolic pathway found in the stroma of the chloroplast in which carbon enters in the form of CO2 and
leaves in the form of sugar. The cycle spends ATP as an energy source and consumes NADPH2 as reducing power for adding high
energy electrons to make the sugar. There are three phases of the cycle.
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