BiologyC4Swavely Flashcards
from Mr. Swavely's Quizlet group
autotrophy
An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy. Green plants, algae, and certain bacteria are autotrophs.
photoautotroph
An organism that harnesses light energy to drive the synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide.
chemoautotroph
An organism (typically a bacterium) that obtains energy through chemical process, which is by the oxidation of electron donating molecules from the environment, rather than by photosynthesis.
photosynthesis
Plants use the sun’s energy to convert water and carbon dioxide into sugars
photosynthesis equation
6 CO2 + 6 H2O + light –> C6H12O6 + 6 O2
pigment
A colored chemical compound that absorbs light, producing color
thylakoid
A flattened membrane sac inside the chloroplast, used to convert light energy into chemical energy.
chloroplast
An organelle in the cells of plants and some other organisms that captures energy from sunlight and uses it to produce food.
stroma
In plants, the solution that surrounds the thylakoids in a chloroplast.
granum
A stack of thylakoids in a chloroplast
chlorophyll
A green pigment found in the chloroplasts of plants, algae, and some bacteria
chlorophyll a
A type of blue-green photosynthetic pigment that participates directly in the light reactions
chlorophyll b
A type of yellow-green accessory photosynthetic pigment that accepts energy from chlorophyll a.
wavelength
The distance between crests of waves, such as those of the electromagnetic spectrum.
light reactions
First stage of photosynthesis. Named because it requires light to happen. Begins with the absorption of light in the chloroplasts.
Calvin cycle
reactions of photosynthesis in which energy from ATP and NADPH is used to build high-energy compounds such as sugars
photosystem II
A photosystem that contains a pair of P680 chlorophyll molecules and uses absorbed light energy to split water into protons and oxygen and to produce ATP.
photosystem I
One of two light-harvesting units of a chloroplast’s thylakoid membrane; it uses the P700 reaction-center chlorophyll.
electron transport system
A series of electron carrier molecules, found in thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts and the inner membrane of mitochondria, that extract energy from electrons and generate ATP or other energetic molecules.
NADP+
(nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) one of the carrier molecules that transfers high-energy electrons from chlorophyll to other molecules (oxidized form)
NADPH
A molecule that carries electrons from glucose and other fuel molecules and deposits them at the top of an electron transport chain (reduced form)