Top 10 Interesting Facts About Cellular Respiration

Utop Tens
3 min readSep 19, 2018
  • Cellular respiration is a metabolic pathway

Cellular respiration is a metabolic pathway that allows cells to take apart food molecules and use their atoms as an energy source. This pathway takes electrons from food molecules and transfers them to oxygen, has energy transferred to ATP and arranges molecules into water, carbon dioxide and waste.

  • Cellular respiration makes you sweat

The reason you sweat when you do exercise is because the rate of cellular respiration is increased in order to transfer the extra energy you need to ATP. However, only 40 percent of energy from food can be transferred, leaving the extra 60 percent to transform into heat, making you sweat.

  • Cellular respiration burns sugar

Cellular respiration breaks down sugar through a process similar to burning. This process, however, is slowed down considerably in order to avoid the pain of an excessive and damaging reaction.

  • Cellular respiration provides energy to the cell

Cellular respiration allows cells to stock up on the energy they will need in the future, by transferring it to a carrier of energy called ATP. This is done during the chemical reaction as cellular respiration slowly takes energy from the molecule and send it to ATP.

  • Cellular respiration moves electrons

Electrons are moved during the process of cellular respiration as they are taken from glucose and given to oxygen when glucose is oxidized. This process is exergonic, which provides lots of energy to the cell and so much be undertaken slowly and carefully.

  • Cellular respiration takes many steps

Cellular respiration oxidizes glucose during a slow process in order to take energy from glucose and send it to ATP. This process necessitates the work of three pathways, which include the process of glycolysis, the krebs cycle and the process of oxidative phosphorylation to succeed.

  • Cellular respiration causes glycolysis

Cellular respiration must use the process of glycolysis to transfer energy. Glycolysis begins the oxidation of glucose by changing the six carbon atoms within a glucose molecule into two pyruvate molecules with three carbon atoms each.

  • Cellular respiration makes ATP

ATP is created through substrate-level phosphorylation, which takes place during glycolysis. It happens when an enzyme takes a phosphate molecule from an intermediate and gives it to ADP, creating an exergonic reaction.

  • Cellular respiration can be replaced by fermentation

Not all cells need to use the process of cellular respiration and some don’t even need it at all. These cells can use a combination of glycolysis and fermentation instead, which is utilized in the food industry in the form of lactic acid fermentation and alcohol fermentation.

  • Cellular respiration creates the Krebs cycle

The krebs cycle is the process that follows glycolysis during cellular respiration. It is used to oxidize intermediates during the metabolic pathway and transform this energy into something the cell can use to support itself. This is done by enzymes that decrease the number of electron carriers through oxidization and discard carbon and oxygen atoms in the form of carbon dioxide.

See the original article here: http://utoptens.com/top-10-interesting-facts-cellular-respiration/

--

--