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( Bioenergetics)
Bioenergetics is the subject of a field of biochemistry that concerns energy flow through living systems. This is an active area of biological research that includes the study of thousands of different cellular processes such as cellular respiration and the many other metabolic processes that can lead to production and utilization of energy in forms such as ATP molecules. All biological processes including the chemical reactions of bioenergetics obey the law of thermodynamics. In a living organism chemical bonds are broken and made as part of the exchange and transformation of energy. Energy is available for work (such as mechanical work) or for other processes (such as chemical synthesis and anabolic processes in growth), when weak bonds are broken and stronger bonds are made. The production of stronger bonds allows release of usable energy. The chemical bonds in carbohydrates, including sugars, are important for the storage of energy, as are the bonds of fats and oils. These molecules, in combination with oxygen, are important energy sources for many biological processes. The bonds holding the molecules of carbohydrates and fats together, and the bonds holding molecules of free oxygen together, are all relatively weak compared with the chemical bonds which hold carbon dioxide and water together. Thus, "burning" of carbohydrates and fats with oxygen generates net energy from the formation of stronger bonds. This net energy may evolve as heat, or some of which may be used by the organism for other purposes, such as breaking other bonds to do chemistry. Other chemical bonds that are important for metabolism include the terminal phosphate bonds of ATP. These bonds are again relatively weak compared with the stronger bonds formed when ATP is broken down to adenosine monophosphate and phosphate, dissolved in water. Here it is the energy of hydration which results in energy release. This hydrolysis of ATP is used as a battery to store energy in cells, for intermediate metabolism.
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