Photosynthesis
What three inputs do plants need to perform photosynthesis? (Name two chemical inputs and one energy input.)
Carbon dioxide, water, and light energy.
What gas do animals inhale that is required for cellular respiration?
Oxygen.
One product of photosynthesis is used by animals. What is it?
Oxygen.
Fossil fuels release which greenhouse gas when burned?
Carbon dioxide (CO2).
Define glucose (sugar) in one simple sentence appropriate for a 7th grader.
Glucose is a simple sugar plants make and organisms use for energy.
What are the two main products of photosynthesis?
Glucose (sugar) and oxygen.
What are the main products of cellular respiration?
ATP (usable energy), carbon dioxide, and water.
Name the two waste products of cellular respiration that can be used by plants.
Carbon dioxide and water.
Why does burning fossil fuels add "ancient" carbon to today’s atmosphere? (Two-sentence explanation.)
Burning fossil fuels breaks the stored chemical bonds in ancient organic carbon, rapidly returning CO2 that was removed from the atmosphere millions of years ago.
What is chemical energy and why is it important to cells?
breaking these bonds releases energy that drives metabolism, allows for growth, enables movement, and powers cells to undergo chemical processes
Where in the plant cell does photosynthesis occur? Give the organelle name.
Chloroplast.
In which organelle does most cellular respiration occur?
Mitochondria.
Using the terms photosynthesis and cellular respiration, say a one-sentence explanation of how these processes form a biological loop.
The products of photosynthesis (glucose and oxygen) are the reactants for cellular respiration; cellular respiration’s products (CO2 and H2O) are reactants for photosynthesis — forming a biological loop.
Predict one effect on plants and animals if global temperatures rise enough to significantly reduce photosynthesis (use ecosystem terms).
Reduced photosynthesis → less CO2 removal and less oxygen production → food shortages for herbivores → cascading population declines and altered ecosystem dynamics.
Define chloroplast in one sentence.
Chloroplasts are plant cell organelles where photosynthesis takes place.
Explain, in one sentence, how light energy is used during photosynthesis.
Light energy drives reactions that convert CO2 and H2O into glucose, storing energy in chemical bonds.
Describe what happens to glucose during cellular respiration (mention chemical bonds (break or bond) and ATP (energy).
Cells break chemical bonds in glucose with oxygen to release energy (ATP), producing CO2 and H2O.
DAILY DOUBLE!!!!!!!!!!! DOUBLE POINTS!!!!!
Explain how the carbon in fossil fuels originally became part of ancient plants (briefly describe steps from photosynthesis to burial to fossil fuel).
Ancient plants used photosynthesis to make glucose and store carbon; after burial and compression over millions of years this organic matter formed fossil fuels; burning releases that stored carbon as CO2.
Explain how loss of photosynthesis would affect atmospheric oxygen and cellular respiration in animals.
Atmospheric O2 would decrease and CO2 would increase; animals would have less oxygen to fuel cellular respiration and less plant-produced glucose (food), threatening survival.
Define mitochondria in one sentence and connect its role to energy.
Mitochondria are organelles where cellular respiration produces chemical energy from glucose (sugar).
Describe how photosynthesis helps remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (include where the carbon atoms end up).
Plants take in CO2; plant cells incorporate the carbon into glucose molecules during photosynthesis (carbon becomes part of organic molecules).
Explain why cellular respiration is considered the "reverse" of photosynthesis (name reactants and products for each).
Photosynthesis: CO2 + H2O + light → glucose + O2.
Cellular respiration: glucose + O2 → CO2 + H2O + ATP — products of one are reactants of the other.
Describe how stomata (holes on a plants surface) help balance a plant’s need for carbon dioxide with its need to conserve water, and explain one way this balance could affect the rates of photosynthesis and cellular respiration in hot, dry conditions.
Stomata are tiny leaf pores that open to let in CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) and close to reduce water loss. In hot, dry conditions stomata close, lowering CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) intake and reducing photosynthesis. Less photosynthesis means less glucose (sugar) and oxygen, which can reduce cellular respiration in the plant and animals that eat it.
Propose one human action to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuels and briefly explain how it would help the biological carbon loop.
Increase renewable energy (solar/wind) OR Plant matter to reduce fossil fuel burning — this lowers CO2 emissions and slows addition of ancient carbon to the atmosphere, helping rebalance the carbon loop.
Use the words chloroplast, glucose, mitochondria, and Chemical energy in a short (2–3 sentence) scientifically accurate narrative sentence set.
In chloroplasts, sunlight helps make glucose; when that glucose reaches mitochondria, it is broken down to release ATP for the cell.