1. Carbon: Transformations in Matter and Energy Environmental Literacy Project Michigan State University Plants Unit Activity 3.2 Explaining How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis

2. Answering the three questions for photosynthesis

3. Where are atoms moving from? Where are atoms moving to? The movement question

4. Which atoms and molecules move so that plants can do photosynthesis? water carbon dioxideoxygen glucose

5. How do glucose water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen move for a plant leaf to photosynthesize? water carbon dioxideoxygen glucose

6. Plants make glucose from carbon dioxide and water in their leaves.

7. What happens inside the leaf cell as it photosynthesizes? Chemical change

8. What happens to glucose made by photosynthesis? Glucose moves from a plant’s leaves to all of its cells

9. The Carbon Question: What is happening to carbon atoms? What molecules are carbon atoms in before photosynthesis? How are the atoms rearranged into new molecules during photosynthesis? The Energy Question: What is happening to energy? What forms of energy are involved in photosynthesis? How is energy changing from one form to another during photosynthesis?

10. How can we answer the carbon question and the energy questions now? The Carbon Question: What is happening to carbon atoms? What molecules are carbon atoms in before photosynthesis? How are the atoms rearranged into new molecules during photosynthesis? The Energy Question: What is happening to chemical energy? What forms of energy are involved in photosynthesis? How is energy changing from one form to another during photosynthesis?

11. The carbon and energy questions Carbon: carbon atoms move from CO 2 molecules in the air (inorganic) to C 6 H 12 O 6 molecules in the plant (organic). Energy: energy is transformed from light energy into chemical energy in the high- energy (C-C and C-H) bonds of the glucose molecule.

12. Plants make their own food 12 FoodTo Cells Materials for growth: Biosynthesis Energy: Cellular respiration