Page 197 - Microsoft Word - LessonPlan-Overview.doc
P. 197
Cellular Respiration
Plants get glucose from
photosynthesis, and animals get it
from eating. Glucose is a great
type of energy for storage, and
energy is stored as glucose in both
plants and animals. However
glucose is not good for actually
providing the power for the
processes in a cell. It is too
powerful. ATP, which we learned
Carbon dioxide, water, and energy combine to form about earlier, has exactly the right
glucose and oxygen.
amount of power to do everything
We learned in the last section that the cell needs to do. So, cells need
glucose is a kind of sugar. This some way to change the chemical
sugar is important for energy, so energy in glucose to chemical
the plant stores all the glucose it energy in ATP. This process is
creates. However, the plant called cellular respiration.
releases the oxygen it creates. Cellular respiration happens in both
animal and plant cells, and
happens in the mitochondrion.
Now we can see two reasons why
In cellular respiration, glucose and
photosynthesis is so important not
oxygen combine to make carbon
just to plants, but to animals too.
dioxide, water, and ATP. An
First, all animals need oxygen to
equation showing this would be:
live. Photosynthesis produces
oxygen, so without this process, C 6H 12O 6 + 6O 2 6CO 2 + 6H 2O +
animals could not survive. Also, ATP
don’t forget that since animals
You should notice that this is
can’t make their own food, they
almost exactly the opposite of
have to eat plants, or eat other
photosynthesis. Even so, plants
animals that have eaten plants. So
need to go through both steps, so
without plants, animals would
that they have glucose to store
quickly run out of food.
energy.
© 2011 Supercharged Science www.ScienceLearningSpace.com
599
