​Notices and Wonders

​Description:  According to a Daily Mail article David Latimer has had a sealed ecosphere for over fifty years that he has only watered once.  

​HOW?

​Organisms need energy to survive. Plants capture energy during photosynthesis. Plants and animals release energy in a process called cellular respiration. Examine the equations for each process below.

​Compare and Contrast

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​Garfield taking notes

​Photosynthesis is the process plants use to capture energy from the Sun. Plants absorb carbon dioxide through their leaves and water through their roots.


Plant cells convert these reactants into sugar and oxygen gas. Some of the energy from sunlight powers the chemical reaction. The rest of the energy is stored as chemical energy in the sugar molecules.

​diagram of photosynthesis

​Photosynthesis occurs in chloroplasts, specialized organelles found in some cells. In vascular plants and green algae, the thylakoids are stacked on top of one another, and a stack of thylakoids is called a granum (plural: grana).


The thylakoids contain chlorophylls and carotenoids, and these pigments absorb light during the process of photosynthesis. Light-absorbing pigments are grouped with other molecules such as proteins to form complexes known as photosystems.

​thylakoid= thy·la·koid

image of a chloroplast and structures within

​Chloroplasts are the organelles that perform photosynthesis. The process of photosynthesis converts light energy into chemical energy. Carbon dioxide and water react, or combine, to produce the products glucose and oxygen.

​Many people think of plants when they hear the word photosynthesis, but they are not the only organisms that
use photosynthesis. Organisms that perform
photosynthesis include:

• most, but not all, plants

• some protists

• algae

• cyanobacteria

About 50% of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere is produced
by algae and protists in the ocean.

​Cellular Respiration

​Cellular respiration is the process that cells use to release the energy that is stored in sugar molecules. Cells convert oxygen and glucose into carbon dioxide and water. Cellular respiration transfers the energy from the glucose
molecule to another molecule, ATP, that
the cell uses for energy later. Cells use
the energy to move, reproduce, and
produce proteins.

​imag of mitochondria

​Cellular respiration occurs in the mitochondria of a cell. Recall that only eukaryotes contain membrane-bound organelles such as mitochondria.

All eukaryotes, including plants and animals, perform cellular respiration. Organisms from the domains Bacteria and Archaea use a different method to gain energy from food. The type of respiration Bacteria and Archaea perform does not use oxygen or mitochondria.

Cellular respiration and photosynthesis are closely related chemical reactions. Both equations involve the same molecules, although the arrangement of those molecules in the equations differs. Some organisms perform both processes, while other organisms only perform cellular respiration.

Tomorrow is the iReady math benchmark. This is the last one of the year!

• take your time

• use resources when allowed

• take your BEST guess on questions you don't know

• this should be your best score!