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METABOLISM & ENERGY

 Metabolic Pathways
 Anabolic
 Also called biosynthetic pathway
 Uses energy to build complicated molecules from simpler ones

 Catabolic
 Complex molecules are broken down into simpler compounds,
thereby releasing energy
 Metabolism
• Living organisms must continually capture, store, and use energy
to carry out the functions of life.

• ENERGY is………the ability to do work

• WORK is…….the transfer of energy from one place to another

• Living organisms must constantly work to build molecules and

break molecules in order to survive

• The sum of all anabolic and all catabolic processes is referred

to as metabolism
All forms of energy can be classified as either kinetic energy or
potential energy

Kinetic
• the energy possessed by moving objects (eg. heart, lungs, etc)
• many forms including thermal energy, mechanical energy,
electromagnetic energy

Potential
• stored energy
• energy that has the potential to be converted into kinetic energy
• some forms include gravitational potential and elastic potential
 First Law of Thermodynamics
 The total amount of energy in the universe is constant

 Energy cannot be created or destroyed but only converted

from one form into another
 eg. potential to kinetic
 Activation Energy
 The minimum amount of energy needed to initiate a chemical
reaction
 Needed to strain and break reactants’ bonds
 Types of Reactions
 The terms exergonic and endergonic are used to describe the
change in total energy that takes place in chemical reactions
 The energy change can be described as change in Gibb’s Free
Energy (the energy that can do useful work)
 Exergonic Reaction
 A chemical reaction where energy is released
 Energy of the products is less than the energy of the reactants
 Endergonic Reaction
 A chemical reaction where energy is absorbed
 Energy of products is more than energy of reactants
 Second Law of Thermodynamics
 In every energy transfer or conversion, some of the useful
energy in the system becomes unusable and is lost to the
environment.
 For example: A runner converts only 40% of the energy from
glucose into a useful form, the rest is given off as thermal
energy in the form of body heat.
 Gibbs Free Energy

 Since we know that when energy is transferred its never 100%

efficient (because some is always lost to the environment), the
energy that is not lost is called Free Energy
 Free energy is represented by the symbol G

 The change in free energy (ΔG) represents the difference in the

free energy of the final state of molecules as compared to the
free energy of the initial state.
 Spontaneous Changes

 A SPONTANEOUS change is one that will continue to occur on its

own once its underway.
 Ex. A match will not suddenly burst into flame but once its lit it will
continue to burn without any continual addition of energy

 A NON-SPONTANEOUS change cannot occur without a continual

input of energy
 Ex. A pot of boiling water will only boil with a continual heat source,
if the heat is removed the water will stop boiling
 Therefore………
 Exergonic Reactions are spontaneous are catabolic and and have a
negative ΔG
 Endergonic Reactions are non-spontaneous are anabolic and have a
positive ΔG
 Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)
 Primary source of energy in living cells

 Composed of:

1. Adenine (purine nitrogenous base)

2. Ribose Sugar

3. Three Phosphate Groups

ATP
When the cell requires energy to drive reactions an enzyme called
ATPase catalyzes the hydrolysis of the terminal phosphate
molecule resulting in a molecule of adenosine diphosphate (ADP),
a molecule of phosphate and free energy.

ATP + H2O ATPase ADP + Pi + energy

 Hydrolysis of the terminal (last) phosphate group in the ATP
yields an energy value of ~54kJ/mol in a living cell
 This reaction is an exothermic process resulting in ADP + Pi

 The inorganic phosphate group is usually attached to another

molecule that may need it  phosphorylation
 This phosphorylation results in the molecule gaining free energy
and becoming more reactive
• An active cell requires large amounts of ATP to power
many reactions. One cell uses ~600 million ATP
molecules per minute.

• The average body consumes its own mass of ATP per day

SOME USES OF ATP

 activation energy for reactions

 chemical synthesis
 mechanical work – movement
 heat production
 anabolic and catabolic reactions
 active transport
 Homework
 Page 140 # 1, 4, 7, 8

 Page 145 # 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11