Cellular respiration?

Question

i have a test in science tomorrow, and i forgot to fill out a question on my study guide. so can you help me?

question:

Cellular respiration converts energy from which form to which 2 forms? (the 8 forms of energy are elastic, gravitational, electromagnetic, electric, chemical, heat, nuclear, mechanical)

does it start as chemical energy? does it turn into mechanical? please help!

Answer 1

As the name implies, cellular respiration occurs inside the cell. It actually refers to the use of oxygen as a final electron acceptor in the electron transport chain ( process involved in the making of ATPs, the major energy currency of the cell ). The whole process is to convert organic compounds to an energy that would be used cellular activities.the general equation to this reaction is

       C6H12O6 + 6O2 --> 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy

There are 3 steps in this process.

The first step is glycolysis, this converts sugar to pyruvate, a 3 carbon compound. This process also occurs in other organisms that do not use oxygen. In the presence of O2, pyruvate is converted to acetyl CoA and enters the next process which is Citric acid cyce or Kreb's cycle. In the absent of O2, pyruvate enters the fermentation process.

The second step is Kreb's cycle, in this process, acetyl CoA is converted to many organic compounds to oxaloacetic acid, which is recyled and used again in converting pyruvate to acetyl CoA. During this process, lot of electron is released, and these electrons are transferred to many electron acceptors such as NADH or NADPH,FADH.

Electron acceptors enter then to the next process, Electon transport chain coupled by oxidative phosphorylation. This process is involved in the massive production of ATPs, and the final electron acceptor is oxygen.

In conclusion, cellular respiration converts chemical energy to electrical energy back to chemical energy (ATPs) that will fuel cellular activities, thus converting it to heat energy.

Answer 2

most of the time it's

chemical---->mechanical

yes, you are right.