In school I learned how, when cells need energy, ATP releases it. Supposedly, there is now a chunk of energy floating around in the cell? What is this “energy”? What is it made of? How does it get from the mitochondria way over to the part of the cell that needed it? How does it get put to use? I feel like school is leaving out a huge amount of important information.
EDIT:
So far, the answers boil down to:
1) When cells need energy, ATP releases it.
2) Our cells figure out how to get the energy where it needs to go, somehow.
3) You’re not allowed to know the answer until you go to college, sorry.
Um… thanks?
In: 4
Your body has proteins that change their shape when an ATP molecule bonds to them, and change again when that ATP dumps a phosphate ion, becoming ADP. These shape changes are how muscle fibers contract and how ions are pumped through cell membranes. How and why exactly these shape changes work is college level stuff.
The mitochondria are the place where ADP and phosphate are regenerated into ATP. The chemical reactions that do so also involve oxidizing carbohydrates.
In a fire, oxygen and carbon have a high energy level, while carbon dioxide has a way lower energy level, the difference being released as a huge amount of heat. Chemical reactions in the body are more subtle, but work on the same principle: Protein + ATP has a slightly higher energy level than twisted protein + ADP + P, with a tiny amount of heat being released. ATP simply splitting and releasing its energy is worthless for the body, it must do so as part of a larger reaction that achieves something the body wants.
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