The rest of the chapter was about the Calvin cycle, which described dark reactions a bit, and photorespiration in plants. I remember photosynthesis being one of my favorite topics in my high school AP biology class. I think that it is quite amazing that this process is responsible for providing for life of all things, not just plants. Photosynthesis is the process of converting carbon dioxide and water to oxygen and sugars in plants and higher bacteria. This process uses light energy, specifically visible light, in performing these reactions.
Photosynthesis has two different series of reactions, the light and dark reactions.
The dark reaction does not take place in the dark, as its name suggests. In fact, both reactions work well in sunlight and take place in organelles called chloroplasts. Chloroplasts mirror mitochondria in much of its structure and function. In the thylakoid membranes of the chloroplast are light harvesting complexes and reaction centers. These provide the photons necessary to drive the processes in Photosystems I and II in the light reaction.