Aerobic Respiration Essay

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Photosynthesis and aerobic respiration are both cellular processes that happen in order to create energy for the organism they’re taking place in. All forms of life need energy in order to work properly, but not all forms of life get this energy the same way. For more complex organisms, such as animals and fungi, this energy is obtained in the food they consume.
Aerobic cellular respiration
Reactants: C6H12O6+O2
Products: CO2+H2O+ATP
Aerobic respiration takes place when sugar is oxidized in the presence of oxygen in a series of reactions that make the sugar molecules smaller and smaller. It should be noted, that these reactions create energy by breaking the bonds of the molecules involved. The first stage involves a biochemical pathway named glycolysis, a series of reactions that take place in the cytoplasm of the cell that initiates the breakdown of a 6 carbon molecule, glucose, obtained from food. These glucose molecules break down in the cell’s cytoplasm- and react with oxygen gas so that energy can be released. Two ATP molecules start the process, by adding two phosphates to the starting 6 carbon molecule, which is then divided in half, making up two 3-carbon sugar phosphates. The reaction finalizes with the conversion of the two 3-carbon …show more content…

This process takes place within the stroma that surrounds the thylakoid membrane. Carbon fixation is very important for the Calvin cycle; with the aid of an enzyme called RuBisCo, it reduces the carbon dioxide molecule to a 5-carbon sugar, ribulose 1,5-biphosphate (RuBP). It results in a very large, unstable molecule that ends up splitting into two 3-carbon molecules. The ATP and hydrogen from NADPH bind to these 3-carbon molecules and are then combined to form glucose or to make up other molecules. Most of these 3-carbon molecules are used to regenerate the starting 5-carbon

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