Strand 8.3: LIFE SYSTEMS STORE AND TRANSFER MATTER AND ENERGY
Living things use energy from their environment to rearrange matter to sustain life. Photosynthetic organisms are able to transfer light energy to chemical energy. Consumers can break down complex food molecules to utilize the stored energy and use the particles to form new, life-sustaining molecules. Ecosystems are examples of how energy can flow while matter cycles through the living and nonliving components of systems.Standard 8.3.2
Develop a model to describe how food is changed through chemical reactions to form new molecules that support growth and/or release energy as matter cycles through an organism. Emphasis is on describing that during cellular respiration molecules are broken apart and rearranged into new molecules, and that this process releases energy. (PS3.D, LS1.C)