Question

The reactions of photosynthesis make up a biochemical pathway.
A) What are the reactants and products for both light and dark reactions.
B) Explain how the biochemical pathway of photosynthesis recycles many of its own reactions and identify the recycled reactants.

Answer 1

A)

1. The reaction of photosynthesis can be grouped into two: Light and Dark reaction.
2. The reaction involving pigments, solar energy and water that produce ATP and NADPH₂ are called light reaction.
3. The photosynthetic reactions in which CO₂ is reduced to carbohydrates making use of ATP and NADPH₂ generated by light reaction are called dark reaction.
4. The overall reaction of photosynthesis can be written as follows:

B)

1. Light reaction use light to synthesize ATP and NADPH₂.
2. The calvin cycle uses these reactants to produce sugar from CO₂ molecule.
3. This cycle then produce NAP + ADP + Pi which is used in light reaction with H₂O molecules to produce ATP and NADPH₂ again.