Biology Question - Photosynthesis

im...LOST

OK I nedd a bit of help.

I would like to think of myself as being pretty good at Biology but there is two topics that I just can't get my head around at all. Photosynthesis and Respiration......

The teacher has went over it with me but I still could not grasp it. I mean the ATP's and ADP'S picking nitrogen up and stuff. WTF?????!?!?!

I would be very grateful if someone could explain to me, in their own words, what exactly photosynthesis intails.

Thanks, and ANY help would be appreciated

Marshy

Photosynthesis: 2 stages
(1) Light stage, takes place in grana.
-2 pathways, cyclic and non-cyclic photophosphorylation
-With cyclic, same electrons return to chlorophyll while with non- they're different.
-End products= ATP, NADH and O2

(2) Dark stage, takes place in stoma.
- Needs CO2
-Atp and Nadh needed from stage 1 to energise electrons
-End product= Glucose and O2

Full equation- 6CO2 + 6H2O + light = C6H12O6 + 602

Very confusing I know but if you can understand the basics its much easier

adam_ccfc

OK, I'll try to explain Photosynthesis in my own words.

-Light hits Chlorophyll.

-This emits energized electrons (which are fast moving).

-These follow one of 2 pathways.

-Some transfer their energy to ATP formation.

ATP is made from ADP and P joined together with a high-energy bond.

-The other pathway is as follows:

NADP+ joins up with the electrons to form NADP- (because the electrons are negatively charged).

Water is split into H+, e- and O. The H+ join up with NADP- to form NADPH.
The O is either released or used in Respiration. The e- give their energy to ATP formation.

-The NADPH goes to the Dark Stage.

- In the dark stage, Hydrogen (from NADPH), Carbon Dioxide are used to form Carbohydrate (glucose). This has the formula C6H12O6.

-NADP+ returns to the light stage to repeat the cycle.

That's as concise as I can manage. Hope it's of use.:)

im...LOST

Thanks for the help guys. I'm still a bit confused by it all. It's really annoying because I get most of the other stuff quite quickly. I think that I might have to learn this off by heart and just regurgitate it in the exam.

Thanks for the help though

Mackleton

I am exact same as OP, I just cannot get my head around photosyn. and resp. although genetics is in my opinion the hardest of them all and I have decided to skip that long question in exam and just learn definitions in it for the short q's. Good or bad idea? Anyone else doing the same?

Kurtosis

I would try and put the effort into trying to understand genetics if I were you. I wasn't a big fan of it (I did the LC last year) but once you understand genetics, there's less learning off to be done than some other areas of the course.

If yourself or the OP would like, I can send ye some of the notes on photosynthesis and respiration I have from last year. Looking back now they aren't great but they got me through it!

im...LOST

Would ya penguin?

I would appreciate it. I mean, although it is the same stuff just said differently they might make something click up there in the aul grey mush.