Thermodynamics and the Primary Processes of Photosynthesis

Numerous discussions of the relationship of the thermodynamics of radiation to photosynthesis have been published, but the results are often in disagreement or at best difficult to compare with one another. The recent treatment of maximal photosynthetic efficiencies by Ross and Calvin is here shown to be directly related to the thermodynamic method of Duysens. A smooth connection between the light and dark conditions is derived, the case of polarized light is considered briefly, and a critique of some other thermodynamic treatments is presented.