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
Basically energy is needed to make and break chemical bonds, change structure , etc. This energy is provided mainly by the ATP molecule breaking down. [This video](https://youtu.be/xweYA-IJTqs) is an example of how ATP is used by the Na-K pump in the cell membrane and shows a basic version of how the change in the structure of the pump happens. ATP is used in many other cellular mechanisms as well from muscle cell contraction to even making more ATP, and in many of them provides the structural changes needed to get the job done. The more detailed processes are way too complicated that they even teach it to us in college lol. (I’m not majoring in biochemistry, but I did have to pass courses of it).
Also ATP moves around the cell by diffusion like how when you add sugar to water,all of the water gets sweet not just parts of it , so when something in the cell like an enzyme needs ATP, there’s a bunch around that it can use. There are other molecules in cell that work like ATP such as FADH2 and NADH, but ATP is known as the energy currency, probably because it’s easier to use and recycle.
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