Home >> Science & Nature >> Nature

How to Distinguish Photosynthesis & Cellular Respiration

Distinguishing between photosynthesis and cellular respiration is simple once you realize their functions, the order in which they occur and how these two processes depend on one another. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration occur among the organisms at the bottom of the Earth's food chain, where plants dwell. While other living organisms feed on these plants, the plants themselves must produce their own sources of food and energy and then break them down into a usable source, much like the way a human consumes food and then the body utilizes that food as energy.

Instructions

- 1
  Look at the plants in your garden and identify the parts that display a green color. The green pigment in plants is composed of chlorophyll, or the substance in plants that absorbs sunlight.
- 2
  Break down the equation that represents the process of photosynthesis and compare it to the equation that represents cellular respiration. Photosynthesis includes the combination of six carbon dioxide molecules, six water molecules and the energy from sunlight, which yields six oxygen molecules and one glucose molecule: 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy --> 6O2 + C6H12O6.
- 3
  Break down the equation for cellular respiration. During cellular respiration, the glucose molecule and six oxygen molecules are converted into six carbon dioxide molecules, six water molecules and 36 ATP molecules, or adenosine triphosphate, a molecule that stores and transports energy throughout a plant. This is essentially the opposite of the process of photosynthesis: 6O2 + C6H12O6 --> 6H2O + 6CO2 + energy.
- 4
  Compare the two different processes, examining how they differ and how they depend on one another. During photosynthesis, a plant absorbs sunlight and acts to turn that sunlight into glucose, or a simple sugar, that the plant can use as food. Respiration happens after the sugar is created. During cellular respiration, the plant breaks down the glucose into usable energy so the plant can thrive and grow.
- 5
  Distinguish how, although these processes depend on one another, they stand alone as individual functions. Photosynthesis is the process by which green plants convert sunlight into food. Cellular respiration is the process by which green plants convert the food into energy.

Nature