Summarize, in one sentence, what happens during the light dependent reactions of photosynthesis. Summarize, in one sentence, what happens during the light independent reactions of photosynthesis. The oxygen atoms are removed from water as the water is broken down during the light reactions. At this point, oxygen is of no value to the system and, consequently, is released from the chloroplast and from the leaf into the surrounding air. When a molecule loses an electron, the molecule has been oxidized .
Electrons vary tremendously in the amount of energy they contain.
In this class, we typically do not use numbers or units to describe the energy levels of electrons. When chlorophyll P680 absorbs energy, an electron gains the energy. When chlorophyll P680 loses an electron, the P680 molecule replaces this electron with an electron taken from an atom of hydrogen which has come out of a molecule of water . If the electron is removed, only the proton remains. Chlorophyll is green because it reflects green wavelengths of light and these are what we see.