5.7.1(Respiration)

Define respiration

• The breakdown of glucose to release energy in the form of ATP

Describe the structure of ATP

• ATP - Adenosine triphosphate

• ATP is a phosphorylated nucleotide

• ATP contains adenine, ribose and 3 phosphate groups

Describe why ATP is a useful molecule

• High energy intermediate molecule found within ever cell and it is the universal energy currency in all living organisms

• ATP is water soluble and so is easily transportable

• ATP is easily hydrolysed and so can release energy stored easily and quickly

Describe the process of switching between ATP and ADP

• To go from ATP to ADP, you remove a phosphate group by hydrolysis to form ADP + P

  • ATP → ADP + P

• To go from ADP to ATP, you add a phosphate group to ADP to form ATP.

  • ADP + P → ATP

Describe how energy is released during respiration

• ??(not sure)

Why are we only able to have small amounts of ATP in our bodies at once

• This is because if there was too much ATP, our body temperature would rise too much which would cause enzymes to denature and be no longer complementary to the active site