Trapping and Using Energy

1. Energy for Life 3 Trapping and Using Energy • All of the activities of an organism involve chemical reactions in some way. • The total of all chemical reactions in an organism is called metabolism. • The chemical reactions of metabolism need enzymes.

2. Energy for Life 3 Trapping and Using Energy • Enzymes in cells cause a change, but the enzyme is not changed and can be used again. • Enzymes also can cause molecules to join. • Without the right enzyme, a chemical reaction in a cell cannot take place. • Each chemical reaction in a cell requires a specific enzyme. Click image to view movie.

3. Energy for Life 3 Photosynthesis • Living things are divided into two groups— producers and consumers—based on how they obtain their food. • Organisms that make their own food, such as plants, are called producers. • Organisms that cannot make their own food are called consumers.

4. Energy for Life 3 Photosynthesis • Plants and many other producers can convert light energy into another kind of energy—chemical energy. • The process they use is called photosynthesis. • During photosynthesis,producers use light energy to make sugars, which can be used as food.

5. Energy for Life 3 Producing Carbohydrates • Producers that use photosynthesis are usually green because they contain a green pigment called chlorophyll (KLOR uh fihl). • Chlorophyll and other pigments are used in photosynthesis to capture to capture light energy. • In plant cells, these pigments are found in chloroplasts.

6. Energy for Life 3 Producing Carbohydrates • The captured light energy is used to drive chemical reactions during which the raw materials, carbon dioxide and water, are used to produce sugar and oxygen. • For plants, the raw materials come from air and soil.

7. Energy for Life 3 Producing Carbohydrates • Some of the captured light energy is stored in the chemical bonds that hold sugar molecules together.

8. Energy for Life 3 Storing Carbohydrates • Plants make more sugar during photosynthesis than they need for survival. • Excess sugar is changed and stored as starches or used to make other carbohydrates. • Plants use carbohydrates as food for growth, maintenance, and reproduction. • Consumers take in food by eating producers or other consumers.

9. Energy for Life 3 Respiration • Some of the energy from the food you eat is used to make you move. • Some of it becomes thermal energy, which is why you feel warm or hot when you exercise. • Most cells need oxygen to break down food.

10. Energy for Life 3 Respiration • During respiration, chemical reactions occur that break down food molecules into simpler substances and release their stored energy. • Just as in photosynthesis, enzymes are needed for the chemical reactions of respiration.

11. Energy for Life 3 Breaking Down Carbohydrates • The type of food molecules most easily broken down by cells are carbohydrates. • Respiration of carbohydrates begins in the cytoplasm of the cell. • The carbohydrates are broken down into glucose molecules. • Each glucose molecule is broken down further into two simpler molecules. • As the glucose molecules are broken down, energy is released.

12. Energy for Life 3 Breaking Down Carbohydrates • The two simpler molecules are broken down again. This breakdown occurs in the mitochondria of the cells of plants, animals, fungi, and many other organisms. • This process uses oxygen, releases energy, and produces carbon dioxide and water as wastes.

13. Energy for Life 3 Breaking Down Carbohydrates • When you exhale you breathe out carbon dioxide and some of the water. • Respiration occurs in the cells of all living things.

14. Energy for Life 3 Fermentation • When cells do not have enough oxygen for respiration, they use a process called fermentationto release some of the energy stored in glucose molecules. • Like respiration, fermentation begins in the cytoplasm.

15. Energy for Life 3 Fermentation • Again, as the glucose molecules are broken down, energy is released. • But the simple molecules from the breakdown of glucose do not move into the mitochondria. • Instead, more chemical reactions occur in the cytoplasm.

16. Energy for Life 3 Fermentation • These reactions release some energy and produce wastes. • Depending on the type of cell, the wastes may be lactic acid, alcohol, or carbon dioxide. • The presence of lactic acid is why your muscle cells might feel stiff and sore after you exercise.

17. Energy for Life 3 Related Processes • During photosynthesis and respiration, what is produced in one is used in the other. • Photosynthesis produces sugars and oxygen, and respiration uses these products. • The carbon dioxide and water produced during respiration are used during photosynthesis