Photosynthesis Vocab

Question 1

an organism that produces its own nutrients from inorganic substances or from the environment instead of consuming other organisms

Answer 1

autotroph

Question 2

the process by which plants, algae, and some bacteria use sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to produce carbohydrates and oxygen

Answer 2

photosynthesis

Question 3

an organism that obtains organic food molecules by eating other organisms or their byproducts and that cannot synthesize organic compounds from inorganic molecules

Answer 3

heterotroph

Question 4

the initial reactions in photosynthesis, which are triggered by the absorption of light by photosystems I and II and include the passage of electrons along the electron transport chains, the production of NADPH and oxygen gas, and the synthesis of ATP through chemiomosis

Answer 4

light reactions

Question 5

an organelle found in plant and algae cells where photosynthesis occurs

Answer 5

chloroplast

Question 6

a membrane system found within chloroplasts that contain the components for photosynthesis

Answer 6

thylakoid

Question 7

a stack of thylakoids in a chloroplast (plural: grana)

Answer 7

granum

Question 8

in plants, the solution that surrounds the thylakoids in a chloroplast

Answer 8

stroma

Question 9

a substance that gives another substance or a mixture its color

Answer 9

pigment

Question 10

a green pigment that is present in most plant cells, that gives plants their characteristic green color, and that reacts with sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to form carbohydrates

Answer 10

chlorophyll

Question 11

a class of pigments that are present in the thylakoid membrane of plants and that aid in photosynthesis

Answer 11

carotenoid

Question 12

in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts, a cluster of chlorophyll and other pigments molecules that harvest light energy for the light reactions of photosynthesis

Answer 12

photosystem

Question 13

in chloroplasts, an acceptor of electrons lost from chlorophyll a; found in the thylakoid membrane

Answer 13

primary electron acceptor

Question 14

a series of molecules, found in the inner membranes of mitochondria and chloroplasts, through which electrons pass in a process that causes protons to build up on one side of the membrane

Answer 14

electron transport chain

Question 15

in chloroplasts and mitochondria, a process in which the movement of protons down their concentration gradient across a membrane is coupled to the synthesis of ATP

Answer 15

chemiosmosis

Question 16

a biochemical pathway of photosynthesis in which carbon dioxide is converted into glucose using ATP

Answer 16

Calvin Cycle

Question 17

the synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide, such as in photosynthesis

Answer 17

carbon fixation

Question 18

one of many openings in a leaf or a stem of a plant that enable gas exchange to occur (plural: stomata)

Answer 18

stoma

Question 19

a carbon-fixing process in which carbon dioxide is bound to a compound to form a four-carbon intermediate

Answer 19

C4 Pathway

Question 20

a water-conserving, carbon-fixing process; CAM plants take in carbon at night and fix it into various organic compounds and release it during the day

Answer 20

CAM Pathway