Cellular Respiration

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What is Cellular Respiration?

• Many scientists would agree that life runs on sugar. Sugar, which is a type of carbohydrate, comes from the breakdown of food. Almost all living things, even those that photosynthesize, “burn” sugar as a source of energy. The process that does this is called cell respiration. The following is the chemical reaction for cell respiration:

CH2O + O2 -> CO2 + H2O + energy

sugar + oxygen -> carbon dioxide + water + energy

• In cell respiration, sugar is broken down to form carbon dioxide, which is respired as a gas. In this reaction, the hydrogen in sugar combines with oxygen to form water. The energy that is released is stored temporarily in another molecule called ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which delivers and transfers the energy where it is needed. This reaction is similar to the burning of the marshmallow. The main difference is the nature of the reaction — cell respiration is much more controlled.

What is ATP?

• Cells force sugar to react or “burn” in the presence of oxygen. This produces a form of energy called ATP (which stands for adenosine triphosphate which sounds like “a-den-o-seen tri-foss-fate”). This is a special chemical that is able to store energy. This little packet of energy can be moved around inside the cell and stored for long periods of time.

Respiration in Mitochondria

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