Chapter 3: Energy and Cellular Respiration Vocabulary

This is a set of flashcards to help review Chapter 3, focusing on key vocabulary related to energy, metabolism, and cellular respiration.

Metabolism

All the chemical reactions that change or transform matter and energy in cells.

Metabolic Pathways

Step-by-step sequences of chemical reactions in cells, where one substrate is changed into a product, which then becomes a substrate for the next reaction.

Catabolism

The process of breaking down compounds into smaller molecules to release energy.

Anabolism

The process of using energy to build large molecules from smaller molecules.

Energy

The capacity to do work.

Kinetic Energy

Energy of motion.

Potential Energy

Stored energy or energy that is available but not yet released.

Bond Energy

Energy required to break (or form) a chemical bond.

Thermodynamics

The science that studies the transfer and transformation of thermal energy (heat).

Entropy

A measure of disorder.

Free Energy

Energy from a chemical reaction that is available for doing work.

Endergonic

A chemical reaction that requires energy.

Exergonic

A chemical reaction that releases energy.

Aerobic Respiration

Catabolic pathways that require oxygen.

Substrate Level Phosphorylation

ATP formation from transferring a phosphate group to ADP.

Glycolysis

Metabolic pathway that breaks glucose down to pyruvate.

Krebs Cycle

Cyclic metabolic pathway that acquires acetyl-CoA and oxidizes it to carbon dioxide while regenerating the compound that picks up more acetyl-CoA; converts released energy to ATP, NADH, and FADH2.

Oxidative Phosphorylation

A process that couples the oxidation of NADH and FADH2 by the electron transport chain with the synthesis of ATP by phosphorylation of ADP.

Electron Transport Chain

A series of electron carriers and protein complexes embedded in the inner mitochondrial membrane that accept and donate electrons in a sequential series, resulting in oxidative phosphorylation.

Chemiosmosis

A process that uses energy in a hydrogen ion gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane to drive phosphorylation of ADP to form ATP.

Anaerobic Respiration

A metabolic pathway in which an inorganic molecule other than oxygen is used as the final electron acceptor during the chemiosmotic synthesis of ATP.

Fermentation

A cellular respiration pathway that transfers electrons from NADH to an organic acceptor molecule.