Download Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis and more Study notes Cellular and Molecular Biology in PDF only on Docsity! Name:_____________________ Per.__________ Energy Molecules: Glucose and ATP Organisms mainly use two types of molecules for chemical energy: glucose and ATP. Both molecules are used as fuels throughout the living world. Both molecules are also key players in the process of photosynthesis. Glucose Glucose is a simple carbohydrate with the chemical formula C6H12O6. It stores chemical energy in a concentrated, stable form. In your body, glucose is the form of energy that is carried in your blood and taken up by each of your trillions of cells. Glucose is the end product of photosynthesis, and it is the nearly universal food for life. ATP ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the energy-carrying molecule that cells use for energy. ATP is made during photosynthesis, when glucose is also made. It is also used for energy by cells for most other cellular processes. ATP releases energy when it gives up one of its three phosphate groups and changes to ADP. See picture to the right. Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis Photosynthesis and cellular respiration are connected through an important relationship. This relationship enables life to survive as we know it. The products of one process are the reactants of the other. Notice that the equation for cellular respiration is the direct opposite of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis makes the glucose that is used in cellular respiration to make ATP. The glucose is then turned back into carbon dioxide, which is used in photosynthesis. While water is broken down to form oxygen during photosynthesis, in cellular respiration oxygen is combined with hydrogen to form water. While photosynthesis requires carbon dioxide and releases oxygen, cellular respiration requires oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. It is the released oxygen that is used by us and most other organisms for cellular respiration. We breathe in that oxygen, which is carried through our blood to all our cells. In our cells, oxygen allows cellular respiration to proceed. Cellular respiration works best in the presence of oxygen. Without oxygen, much less ATP would be produced. Photosynthesis occurs in plants only, however respiration occurs in both plants and animals. Cellular respiration and photosynthesis are direct opposite reactions. Some of the ATP made in the mitochondria is used as energy for work, and some is lost to the environment as heat.