Book C
Chapter 2
Cell Processes and Energy
I. Photosynthesis
-the process of making food from light energy
-plants use energy from the sun
to change water and carbon dioxide into
oxygen and glucose (sugar)
- takes place in the chloroplasts of plant cells.
- chloroplasts contain the pigment chlorophyll which helps to
start the process of photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis equation:
CO2 + H2O + light energy ---------------> O2 + C6H12O6 (glucose)
II. Respiration:
-the process that cells use to break down simple food (glucose)
and release energy
Respiration Equation:
O2 + C6H12O6 (glucose) ---------------> CO2+ H2O + chemical energy
compare photosynthesis and respiration:
photosynthesis uses carbon dioxide and water and light energy
respiration releases carbon dioxide and water and chemical energy
photosynthesis releases oxygen and glucose
respiration uses oxygen and glucose
They are opposites.

III. Cell division
The Cell cycle -- the steps a cell goes through as it grows and develops
Stage 1: Interphase
- the cell grows, makes a copy of its
genetic material (DNA), and
prepares to divide into two cells
Stage 2: Mitosis
- the stage in which a cell's nucleus divides into two nuclei
Four parts of mitosis
1. prophase -- chromatin in the nucleus form chromosomes and the nuclear membrane disappears
2. metaphase-- chromosomes line up in the center of the cell. Spindle fibers attach to chromosomes
3. anaphase -- chromosomes (chromatids) move to opposite sides of the cell.
4. Telophase -- the nuclear membrane reappears
Stage 3: Cytokinesis
- the cytoplasm divides, forming the two new cells
Diagrams of the cell cycle:
Nucleic acids:
-- very large organic molecules made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus.
-- contain the instructions a cell needs to carry out life functions
-- one kind is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid)
DNA structure:
-- shaped like a twisted ladder

-- sides of the ladder are made up of sugar molecules called deoxyribose and phosphate molecules (which contain the element phosphorous)
-- rungs of the ladder are made of a pair of molecules called nitrogen bases
pairs of nitrogen bases
adenine (A) only pairs with
thymine (T)
cytosine (C) only pairs with
guanine (G)
This pairing is the key to understanding how DNA replication or duplication occurs. In replication the two sides of the DNA molecule unwind and separate like a zipper separating. Then the nitrogen bases (A,T,G,C) which are floating in the nucleus pair up with bases on each half of the molecule. The order of the bases in the two new DNA molecules will exactly match the order of the bases in the original DNA molecule.

IV. Cancer

- a disease in which cells grow and divide uncontrollably
- usually begins when some of the DNA in a chromosome is damaged
The damage causes a change in the DNA called a mutation
one cell mutating
Cancer begins when mutations disrupt the normal cell cycle
causing the cells to divide in an uncontrolled way. These cells
become a mass of abnormal cells called a tumor

the cell divides uncontrolably
Tumor cells break off and enter the bloodstream.
Cancer is treated using one or more of these methods:
1.surgery to remove the tumor
2.radiation - beams of energy waves to
destroy the tumor
3. Chemotherapy - drugs to kill cancer cells