Photosynthesis, Aerobic Respiration, Fermentation and Enzymes

Abstract

In this paper I will describe photosynthesis, aerobic respiration, fermentation, and

enzymes. I will discuss how energy is transferred; the role of fermentation plays in allowing

organisms to generate energy without the use of oxygen and how an enzyme catalyzes a reaction.

Explanations on photosynthesis and respiration being linked in order to provide energy from the

food we eat. Also explanations of oxygen in some cells with the absence of oxygen can use

fermentation to produce energy from sugar created by photosynthesis. There are reactions that

occur under conditions that sustain life and cells uses these enzymes as biological catalysts to

increase the rate of reactions.

1.

* Photosynthesis is a metabolic process in which inorganic material is turned into

the organic material with the help of sunlight and with use of atmospheric carbon

dioxide, or the process by which solar energy is trapped and stored as chemical

energy in the bonds or organic molecules such as sugar. Photosynthesis gives out

oxygen as a byproduct. (Audesirk, Audesirk, & Byers, 2011) Respiration in

animals uses oxygen produced from the atmosphere produced by plants to

generate energy in the metabolic process undergoing several stages. Respiration

uses oxygen and gives back the carbon dioxide and therefore forms the raw

materials for the plants to utilize again.

* Photosynthesis and aerobic respiration are essential processes that occur at the

cellular level in living organisms. Photosynthesis is the process in which plants

produce food and/or energy to support growth. During the aerobic respiration

process, plants burn the food products of photosynthesis in order to transform it

into usable energy. Both plants and animals survive off aerobic respiration but

animals do not participate in the process of photosynthesis. (Wahlig, 2010) In

animals, glucose is ingested through external food sources rather than produced

internally through photosynthesis. Aerobic respiration and photosynthesis both

produce a usable form of energy called ATP (adenosine-triphosphate). The

molecules that provide the raw ingredients for photosynthesis, water and carbon

dioxide enters at different stages of the process and are used in different parts of

the chloroplast. Oxygen is liberated by the photosynthesis and is derived from

water while the carbon used in the synthesis of sugar is obtained from carbon

dioxide. (Audesirk, et al, 2011)

* In order for energy to be transferred within cells to produce usable energy in the

form of ATP, the cell must use an electron transfer compound. This function is to

accept the electrons from one compound into another the process of oxidization.

Photosynthesis and aerobic respiration