ATP is an energy carrying molecule.
We start with ADP – adenosine diphosphate. That is the low-energy compound.
That is converted to ATP using energy that usually comes from burning either fat or glucose. It can also come – in muscles – from a small cache of energy stored as creatine phosphate. That store is what is used when we sprint or do anything that requires very high energy.
The ATP then goes to where the cell needs energy. In muscles it hooks onto the muscle fibers. The energy is extracted and the ATP goes back to ADP, and the cycle continues.
That’s the simplified version. The real version is a lot more complex; that’s generally true with biochemistry.
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