1. Cells carry on the many functions needed to sustain life.

They grow and divide, thereby producing

more cells. This requires that they take in nutrients, which they use to provide energy for the work that
cells do and to make the materials that a cell or an organism needs.

2.

3. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are connected through an important relationship. This
relationship enables life to survive as we know it. The products of one process are the reactants of the
other. Notice that the equation for cellular respiration is the direct opposite of photosynthesis:

 Cellular Respiration: C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O

 Photosynthesis: 6CO2 + 6H2O → C6H12O6+ 6O2

Photosynthesis makes the glucose that is used in cellular respiration to make ATP. The glucose is
then turned back into carbon dioxide, which is used in photosynthesis. While water is broken
down to form oxygen during photosynthesis, in cellular respiration oxygen is combined with
hydrogen to form water.

4. While photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide and releases oxygen, cellular respiration
requires oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. It is the released oxygen that is used by us and most
other organisms for cellular respiration. We breathe in that oxygen, which is carried through our
blood to all our cells. In our cells, oxygen allows cellular respiration to proceed. Cellular
respiration works best in the presence of oxygen. Without oxygen, much less ATP would be
produced.

Cells cannot survive on their own. They need power to stay alive. They need energy to perform functions
such as growth, maintaining balance, repair, reproduction, movement and defense. This means all living
organisms must obtain and use energy to live.
Energy is the power to do things. This power comes in many ways and forms, but they can all be linked to
the sun. It is the source of all energy.

A living organism can either make its own food or depend on others to make food for them. For example
green plants produce their own food from a process called photosynthesis. They use the chloroplasts in
their cells to capture energy in sunlight. They combine it with water and carbon dioxide from the air to
produce sugars for themselves. Green plants are therefore known as producers or autotrophs. Bacteria can
also make their own food or breakdown food.

Other organisms eat green plants (which has a store of the energy they produce) to obtain energy. They
are known as consumers or heterotrophs. Rabbits and sheep are examples of consumers. Herbivores,
carnivores and omnivores are all consumers, and they all have to go find food to give them energy.