Cellular Respiration

Overview of cellular respiration- Plants use photosynthesis to make their own food. Animals eat other organisms as food, but food is not a direct source of energy. Instead, plants, animals, and other eukaryotes break down molecules from food to produce ATP. Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are not true opposites, but you can think about them in that way. The Krebs cycle produces molecules that carry energy to the second part of cellular respiration. The chemical equation of cellular respiration is also basically the reverse of photosynthesis, but the structures of chloroplasts and mitochondria are similar.

Learned- I learned that cellular and photosynthesis are not true opposites. That plants use photosynthesis to make their own food, but it is not the source of energy. As it is said, mitochondria cannot make ATP from food. First food is broken down and turned into glucose, and then glucose breaks down and splits itself into two or three molecule and makes two molecule of ATP. Three carbon molecules are broken down in a cycle of chemical reaction. It is then transferred to the second stage of cellular respiration, and then the energy of it is transferred to a chain of proteins in the inner membrane of the mitochondria. Then a large number of ATP is made.

Cellular respiration- like photosynthesis, is a very complex process, like glucose and oxygen do not react directly with one. Glycolysis is an ongoing process in all cells.. It takes place in the cytoplasm before cellular respiration, and it does not require oxygen. Although glycolysis makes four ATP molecules, recall that two ATP molecules are used to first split the glucose molecule. The electron transport chain takes place in and across the inner membrane of a mitochondrion. As with electron transport in photosynthesis, proteins make up the electron transport chain in cellular respiration.

Learned- I learned that photosynthesis is a very complex process. Cellular respiration makes more ATP molecules than glycolysis does. That the Krebs cycle’s main function is to transfer high energy electrons to molecule that carries them to the electron transport chain and also that this cycle is sometimes called the “citric acid cycle” because the citric acid is the first molecule formed. That photosynthesis stores energy as a chemical energy, while cellular respiration releases stored energy as an ATP and heat.