1600’s Jan van Helmont, Flemish physician

New plant material came directly from water ?

1770’s Joseph Priestley, English chemist

Plant grows in air of blown out candle

1776 Antoine Lavoisier French chemist

Oxygen given off by plants

Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch physician

Found plants give oxygen to air only in sunlight

Jean Senebier, Swiss clergyman

Found that plants take in carbon dioxide during growth in sunlight

1800’s scientists had identified the basic requirements for plant growth

Carbon dioxide, water, and light

Most energy enters the earth’s biosphere through photosynthesis. Botanists estimate that 150 billion tons of sugar are produced yearly by plants.

Process of capturing and transforming the energy of sunlight into chemical energy.

Green plants use carbon dioxide and water to make glucose, and they release oxygen.

Autotrophs – capable of making food from simple inorganic substances.

Two types: both use carbon dioxide as a source of carbon to make food.

Photoautotrophs – use light energy to drive the reactions to make their food

Chemoautotrophs – bacteria oxidize inorganic chemicals for the energy to drive their food-making reactions

Heterotrophs – can not make their own food

Sunlight know as radiation.

Radiation travels in waves.

Wavelength – crest to crest.

Sunlight is a mixture of all visible wavelengths.

Sunlight known as white light.

Prism and a spectrum of light

Electromagnetic spectrum

Visible light = ROYGBIV

Photon

Amount of energy

Pigment

Absorption of light

Visible light makes up only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. At increasing wavelengths, there are: infrared rays, which are heat radiations; UHF waves, which are used for FM radio and television; and radio waves. At decreasing wavelengths, there are ultraviolet rays, X rays, and gamma rays.

Chlorophylls most abundant and important pigments.

Two types

Chlorophyll a

Primary photosynthetic pigment

Chlorophyll b

Carotenes and xanthophylls

Absorb light and transfer the energy to chlorophyll a

Carotenes, xanthophylls, and chlorophylls are embedded in the thylakoid membranes of the chloroplasts.

Some believe that just because the leaves are green, they use green light for photosynthesis. What we see as color is reflected light. Chlorophyll reflects light in the green-yellow range and absorbs light in the violet-blue and orange-red ranges.

Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts

Chloroplasts are organelles containing photosynthetic membranes

Photosynthetic membranes are arranged in the form of flattened sacs called thylakoids

Stacks of thylakoids are called grana

The regions between the grana make up the part of the chloroplast known as stroma

Chloroplasts can be divided into three classes on the basis of their pigment content. The chloroplasts of plants, green algae, and the euglenoids contain chlorophyll’s a and b and carotenoids. The chloroplasts of brown algae, diatoms, and dinoflagellates have chlorophylls a and c, carotenoids, and yellowish-brown pigments. Those of red algae contain chlorophyll a, carotenoids, and phycobilins.

Only a same portion of light energy is transformed into chemical energy.

Reaction summarizes the conversion of light energy into chemical energy:

light

6CO₂ + 12H₂O à C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ + 6H₂O

Figure 17-6, page 344

Light-dependent reactions must take place during daylight, the light-independent reactions may take place both day and night.

Figure 17-1, page 345

Photosystem I

Photosystem II

Chemiosmosis

Carbon fixation

Calvin cycle

RuBP

5 – carbon sugar called ribulose bisphosphate

PGA

3 – carbon called phosphoglycerate

PGAL is phosphoglyceraldehyde

Light intensity

Temperature

Water

Mineral availability

Occur simultaneously in light

Comparison of photosynthesis and respiration

Figure 17-9, page 347

Extra photosynthetic pathway

Acts as a CO₂ pump

More rapid fixation

Needs more energy

Grow best in high light intensity

Sugar cane and corn

Crassulacean acid metabolism

Take in CO₂ at night when temperature are low

Prevent water lose in hot and dry environments

Cyanobacteria

Chemosynthesis

Parasitic

Mistletoe, parasite of oaks

Photosynthetic

Dodder plant also parasitic

Cannot photosynthesize

A common insectivorous plant found in the Northeast is the sundew. Its leaves are covered with hairlike tentacles. The tip of each tentacle has a drop of sticky fluid containing digestive enzymes. Insects attracted to the fluid become entrapped in it and are digested.

Page 348, 17-10

Page 348, 17-11

Page 349, 17-12

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