Calvin Cycle

Real World Example

Imagine trying to bake a cake in a dark kitchen using just the ingredients you have on hand. Just like you rely on the ingredients you gathered earlier, the Calvin cycle relies on ATP and NADPH from the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis to create sugars. In this scenario, the dark kitchen represents the light-independent nature of the Calvin cycle, the ingredients are like carbon dioxide and energy carriers (ATP and NADPH), and the cake is the sugar, as both processes assemble something new using stored resources without the need for additional outside light or energy.