Chapter 6 Flashcards
Define energy
The ability to do work or cause change
Potential vs Kinetic Energy
Include examples
Potential: The energy that a substance possesses due to its structure or location (water level with a dam, boulder at the top of a hill, a stretched rubber band)
Kinetic: energy associated with movement (stream of water, boulder moving down hill)
Discuss how the first and second laws of thermodynamics apply to metabolic reactions
First law: energy can be neither created nor destroyed; Energy “generated” in any system is energy that’s been transformed from one state to another (chemically stored energy transformed to heat)
Second law: efficiencies of energy transformation never equal 100%; all processes lose energy, typically as heat, and are not reversible unless the system is open and the lost energy is resupplied from the environment; conversion to heat is the ultimate fate of chemical energy
Distinguish between exergonic and endergonic reactions
Exergonic: release energy to the environment; spontaneous; catabolic
Endergonic: require energy input from the environment and are not spontaneous; anabolic
Describe how cells use the energy of ATP to drive endergonic reactions
ATP donates its phosphate group to another molecule via. phosphorylation; the phosphorylated molecule is at a higher-energy state and is less stable than its unphosphorylated form, this added energy allows the molecule to undergo its endergonic reaction
Distinguish between catabolic and anabolic reactions
Catabolic: breakdown of complex molecules into simpler ones and release energy
Anabolic: the synthesis of complex molecules from simpler ones and requires energy
Explain how enzymes increase the rates of chemical reactions
Enzymes speed up the rate by lowering the activation energy required for reactants to come together and react.
Discuss how enzyme specificity and the role of enzymes in metabolic reactions
Enzymes are highly selective and only fit to specific substrates; shape of the active site determines which substrate(s) the enzyme can act on
Help in the formation of macromolecules
Help in the conversion of a molecule from one form to another form
Aid in the breakdown of large molecules to smaller ones
Minimize the toxicity of substances
Can be reused when going from substrate to substrate
Energy (potential vs kinetic)
Potential: energy possessed by a body virtue of its position or state; stored energy and is completely independent of its environment
Kinetic: energy possessed by a body by virtue of its movement; relative to the state of other objects in its environment
First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics
First: “law of conservation of energy” Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can be transformed from one type to another. Metabolic processes of cells transform chemical potential energy of molecular bonds to useful forms of energy
Second: Transfer of energy from one form to another increases the entropy (degree of disorder) of a system. As entropy increases, less energy is available for cells to do work
Chemo/Photo Auto/Heterotroph
chemotroph: organism that obtains energy by the oxidation of electron donors in their environments
Phototroph: organisms that carry out proton capture to produce organic compounds (carbohydrates) and acquire energy
Autotroph: organism that is able to form nutritional organic substances form simple inorganic substances such as carbon dioxide
Heterotroph: organism that cannot produce its own food and must obtain it by eating other plants or animals
Gibbs Free Energy
The amount of a system’s energy that is available and can be used to promote change or do work
Reactions
Reactions may involve molecules attaching to each other to form larger molecules, molecules breaking apart to form two or more smaller molecules, rearrangements of atoms within molecules, or the transfer of electrons from one atom to another
A sum total of all chemical reactions that occur within an organism is the metabolism
Products
What is created in a reaction
Entropy
The degree of disorder of a system
Enthalpy
Total energy of a system
Metabolism
The sum of all bodily activities and chemical reactions that occur within an organism to maintain life. Also, a specific set of chemical reactions that occur at the cellular level
Catabolism
The process of breaking down large molecules into smaller ones to release energy for the body
is exergonic, meaning it releases heat and works via hydrolysis and oxidation
Anabolism
The synthesis of complex molecules in living organisms from simpler ones together with the storage of energy
is endergonic
Reduced
the gain of electrons by a substance or the loss of oxygen from a substance
Oxidized
the loss of electrons from a substance or the gain of oxygen by a substance