Cellular Respiration Flashcards
Cellular respiration definition
The aerobic harvesting of chemical energy from organic fuel molecules
What does a cell require to break down its fuel?
Oxygen
Cellular respiration requires a cell to…
Exchange two gases with its surroundings
The cell takes in ______, and gets rid of waste in the form of ________.
Oxygen, carbon dioxide
What is the common fuel molecule for cellular respiration?
Glucose
How many ATP molecules can be produced from one glucose molecule through cellular respiration?
38
During cellular respiration hydrogen and its bonding electron change partners from….
Sugar to oxygen, forming water as a product
What is a redox reaction?
A chemical reaction that transfers electrons from one substance to another substance
What is redox reaction short for?
Oxidation-reduction reaction
What is the loss of electrons during a redox reaction called?
Oxidation
What is the acceptance of electrons during a redox reaction called?
Reduction
What does oxygen accept during cellular respiration?
Electrons and hydrogen lost from glucose
What does an oxygen atom attract more strongly than almost any other type of atom?
Electrons
When electrons move from glucose to oxygen, ________ energy is released.
Potential
What does it mean when an electron “falls”?
It’s energy is released explosively in the form of heat and light
Redox reactions also releases a large amount of energy as the electrons of the hydrogen _____ into their new bonds with oxygen.
Fall
Cellular respiration unlocks chemical energy in ________ _________ that cells can put to productive use.
Smaller amounts
The first stop on the path electrons take on their way down from glucose to oxygen is
A positively charged electron acceptor called NAD+
What does the transfer of electrons rom organic fuel to NAD+ reduce NAD+ to?
NADH
What is each link in the electron transport chain?
A molecule, usually a protein
Using a series of redox reactions, what does each member of the electron transport chain do?
First accepts and then donates electrons
What do the electrons do during each transfer?
Give up a small amount of energy that can be used to generate ATP from ADP
The first molecule of the chain accepts electrons from…
NADH
NADH carries electrons from glucose and other fuel molecules and deposits them….
At the top of an electron transport chain
The electrons at the top of an electrons transport chain…
Cascade down the chain from molecule to molecule
The molecule at the bottom of the chain…
“drops” the electrons to oxygen. The oxygen also picks up one hydrogen, forming water.
Oxygen is an electron…
“Grabber” that drives the cascade of electrons “downhill”
Metabolism is the general term…
For all chemical processes that occur in cells
How many reactions are involved in cellular respiration?
More than two dozen
What are the three main metabolic stages?
Glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and electron transport
What happens to a molecule of glucose during glycolysis?
A molecule of glucose is split into two molecules of pyruvic acid
Where are the enzymes for glycolysis located?
The cytosol of the cell
The citric acid cycle/Krebs cycle completes the breakdown of…
Sugar all the way to carbon dioxide, the waste product of cellular respiration
The enzymes for the citric acid cycle are dissolved in…
The fluid within the mitochondria
What do glycolysis and the citric acid cycle generate a small amount of directly?
ATP
How do glycolysis and the citric acid cycle generate more ATP indirectly?
Through redox reactions
Where are the proteins and other molecules that make up electron transport chains embedded?
Within the membrane of the mitochondria
Where does most of the energy your cells use to make ATP come from?
The electron transport chain
