September 18th - Photosynthesis and Respiration

Today, we reviewed decomposers by reading the sheet on decay and decomposition. After answering some questions, we looked at the new and important topic of photosynthesis and cellular aerobic respiration. Photosynthesis is very important as it is the only way that we can get energy. Eventhough the sun is a large and endless supplier of energy, only plants (and a few other organisms) can capture this energy and convert it to useable matter. It is the plants' ability to capture light that allows animals to be present on earth. Without them, no one would be living on earth.

We also looked at cellular respiration which is the conversion of carbohydrate glucose into ATP. It needs to be clear that glucose is high in energy but the cells cannot use it for energy. The analogy I used was oil and gas. Eventhough gasoline comes from oil, we cannot put it into our car's gas tank as fuel. We must refine the oil for gasoline. This is the same for glucose. The cell cannot use glucose as fuel so we must convert it to ATP, which the cells can use. All organisms required ATP as fuel.

Mr. Jay