Some may become confused with the differences between cellular respiration and photosynthesis because there are both processes that are important especially to plants. When cellular respiration happens, this is when oxygen and glucose become converted to water and carbon dioxide.
By doing this, energy is produced and this is always needed so that living things will be able to function more. Photosynthesis would require the use of energy. There are so many things that are needed so that food can be produced for plants. Plants would need sunlight and water so that photosynthesis can take place. These things are needed by living things so that they would be able to survive.
Cellular respiration is the process by which organisms get the right amount of energy needed to perform certain activities through the breaking down of different food materials. During this process, organic materials like glucose are further converted to give Adenosine Triphosphate molecules.
Photosynthesis, on the other hand, is the process by which plants produce their own food, i.e., carbohydrates and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight. One major difference between the two processes is that cellular respiration can be divided into two, i.e., aerobic and anaerobic respiration.
The former uses oxygen in the breaking down of food materials into organic materials like glucose to give energy, while the latter does not involve the use of oxygen. Also, photosynthesis can also occur in two stages, i.e., light-dependent process and light-independent process.
While aerobic respiration is utilizing oxygen to convert organic materials that are derived from food materials into energy, photosynthesis, on the other hand, is producing oxygen together with carbohydrates.