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What Is Energy?
Energy: the capacity to do work
2 Types of Energy
Potential: stored energy
Chemical energy stored in the bonds that hold atoms together
Positional energy stored in an object right before movement
Kinetic: energy of movement
Light movement of photons
Heat movement of molecules
Electricity movement of electrically charged particles
Energy Flow Depends on 2 Things:
The quantity of available energy
The usefulness of the energy
The laws of thermodynamics describe the basic properties and behavior of energy.
2 Laws of Thermodynamics:
1st Law of Thermodynamics: the total amount of energy within a given system remains the same
as long as there is not an introduction of energy
Also called the law of conservation of energy
Energy cannot be created or destroyed by ordinary processes
Energy can change form from chemical to heat
2nd Law of Thermodynamics: when energy is converted from one form to another, the amount of
useful energy is decreased
All spontaneous changes result in a more uniform distribution of energy reducing energy
differences that are essential for doing work
Energy is spontaneously converted from more useful energy to less useful forms
Energy released as heat is in a less usable form
No energy conversion process is 100% efficient (including those that occur in the body)
Entropy: the tendency toward a decrease in order and high-level energy and an increase in
randomness and low-level energy
We all experience entropy in our internal and external environments- without our energetic cleaning and
organizing efforts, things tend to end up in a state of disorder
If chemical reactions cause the amount of unusable energy to increase, and if matter tends toward disorder
How can organisms accumulate the concentrated energy and precisely ordered molecules that make up living
things?
Answer: nuclear reactions in the sun produce energy in the form of sunlight a process that also
produces great increases in entropy
All living things use a continuous input of solar energy to synthesize complex molecules and maintain
orderly structures
Highly-organized, low-entropy systems do not violate the 2nd law of thermodynamics they are achieved at
the expense of an enormous loss of usable energy from the sun
How Does Energy Flow in Chemical Reactions?
A chemical reaction is a process that forms or breaks the chemical bonds that hold atoms together
Convert one set of chemical substances called reactants into another set/final substance called the
products
All chemical reactions are either exergonic or endergonic.
Exergonic: energy out; reactants contain more energy than the products
Releases energy (due to the reaction)
Example: burning glucose (cellular respiration)
When sugar is burned, it reacts with oxygen to produce CO2 and H2O and release
energy
2 Important Concepts:
1) Sugar molecules contain more energy than CO2 and H2O
Energy release allows exergonic reactions to occur without a net input of
energy once ignited, will burn spontaneously
From high energy to low energy (going downhill)
2)
All chemical reactions require an initial input (or push) of energy to get started
called activation energy
The usual source is kinetic energy of movement
Molecules move faster as the temperature increases, therefore, most chemical
reactions occur more readily at high temperatures
The initial heat begins the reaction and the combination of reactants releases
enough of its own heat to sustain the reaction
Endergonic: energy in; the products contain more energy than the reactants
Requires energy (from an outside source)
Example: creating glucose (photosynthesis)
When sugar is produced by photosynthetic organisms, it contains far more energy
than the CO2 and H2O from which it was formed
Synthesizing complex biological molecules requires an input of energy
Photosynthesis takes low-energy CO2 and H2O and uses them to produce oxygen and
high-energy sugar
Requires energy obtained from sunlight
From low energy to high energy (going uphill)
Coupled Reactions
An exergonic reaction provides the energy needed to drive an endergonic reaction
In photosynthesis:
Exergonic reaction occurs in the sunlight
Most energy is lost as heat; therefore usable energy decreases
Endergonic reaction occurs in the plant
Living organisms constantly use exergonic reaction energy (breakdown of sugar) to drive endergonic
reactions (brain activity, muscle contraction/movement, molecule synthesis)
Cannot happen unless an exergonic reaction has already occurred somewhere in the body to
provide the energy required
Exergonic energy must exceed endergonic needs since some energy is lost as heat every time
it is transformed
Within cells:
Energy is transferred from place to place by energy-carrier molecules most common is
ATP
Enzymes are precisely regulated and promote only very specific reactions
Breakdown or synthesis of a molecule occurs in discrete steps each catalyzed by a different
enzyme
Lowering the activation energy for its particular reaction
Cells have evolved many ways of regulating enzyme activity
Regulate the synthesis of enzymes to meet their changing needs
Reactions can occur only if the necessary enzymes are available
Synthesize some enzymes in an inactive form to be activated only when needed
Inhibit enzymes when adequate amounts of the enzymes product are available
Feedback inhibitors the activity of an enzyme is inhibited by its own product or a
subsequent product
Certain enzymes are subject to allosteric regulation
Allosteric means other shape
Enzyme action is enhanced or inhibited by small organic molecules that act as regulators at a
regulator site
One mechanism of feedback inhibition
Some cases, 2 or more molecules that are similar in structure compete for the active site called
competitive inhibition
Molecule with similar structure occupies the active site and blocks entry of the correct
substrate