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Welcome to the great outdoors!

My name is Victoria and this is Ruff. We will be your tour guides on our adventure inside plant cells!

Remember keep your hands and feet inside the adventure at all times.

Look at this cute little tree! One day he will grow big and strong just like his mom.

But first, he needs to make food to get energy.

How does he do that you ask?

Well, follow me and I'll tell you.

First he has to get the light that the sun provides and change it into sugar using the process of photosynthesis!

Photosynthesis is the reaction that changes carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight into sugar, water, and oxygen.

Oxygen is let out into the air for us all to breath, this is why plants are so important!

Photosynthesis is made up of two reactions: the light reaction and the Calvin cycle.

The light reaction takes place inside the thylakoid membrane of a chloroplast. Water is absorbed into the cell and broken up by sunlight into Hydrogen and Oxygen ions and two electrons. These electrons are pulled into Photosynthesis II and travel along the electron transport chain to Photosynthesis I. As the electrons move, Hydrogen ions cross the membrane from outside the cell creating a higher concentration inside the cell. When sunlight hits Photosynthesis I, it allows ADP to convert to ATP and NADP+ to convert to NADPH by shifting the Hydrogen ions back out of the cell through the ATP synthase.

The Calvin cycle is the next step!

The ATP and NADPH that the light reaction made are used to create simple sugars. Each cycle creates RuBP (or rubisco) so that the cycle can start over.

And there you have it!

That's how leaves get their food!

What's that Ruff? What about animals?

Follow me and I'll show you.

If you take a look inside Ruff's cells you will see an organelle called the mitochondria. This organelle is know as the "Powerhouse of the Cell" because it produces energy for your body to use in the form of ATP.

Sound familiar?

This process of creating ATP is called Cellular Respiration and has four steps. 1) Glycolysis, 2) Preparatory Reactions, 3) Krebs Cycle, and 4) Electron Transport Chain (ETC).