Basics 8 min read
The Light-Dependent Reactions of Photosynthesis
How can light be used to make food? It is easy to think of light as something that exists and…
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Basics 7 min read
Introduction to Photosynthesis
Figure 5.1 This sage thrasher’s diet, like that of almost all organisms, depends on photosynthesis. (credit: modification of work by…
Basics 10 min read
Anaerobic Cellular Respiration
Certain prokaryotes, including some species of bacteria and Archaea, use anaerobic respiration. For example, the group of Archaea called methanogens…
Basics 3 min read
Fermentation
In aerobic respiration, the final electron acceptor is an oxygen molecule, O2. If aerobic respiration occurs, then ATP will be…
Basics 9 min read
Citric Acid Cycle and Oxidative Phosphorylation
The Citric Acid Cycle In eukaryotic cells, the pyruvate molecules produced at the end of glycolysis are transported intomitochondria, which…
Basics 2 min read
Glycolysis
You have read that nearly all of the energy used by living things comes to them in the bonds of the…
Basics 4 min read
ATP in Living Systems
A living cell cannot store significant amounts of free energy. Excess free energy would result in an increase of heat…
Basics 3 min read
Electrons and Energy
The removal of an electron from a molecule, oxidizing it, results in a decrease in potential energy in the oxidized…
Basics 1 min read
Glycolysis
Energy production within a cell involves many coordinated chemical pathways. Most of these pathways are combinations of oxidation and reduction…
Basics 3 min read
Feedback Inhibition in Metabolic Pathways
Molecules can regulate enzyme function in many ways. The major question remains, however: What are these molecules and where do…
Basics 3 min read
Free and Activation Energy
After learning that chemical reactions release energy when energy-storing bonds are broken, an important next question is the following: How…