Metabolism is a compilation of chemical reactions that takes place within a cell. Metabolism primarily deals with the food we eat. It changes the fuel in the food into the necessary energy to command every single action that one does. This can be a wide range of activities from movements such as walking or typing to physiological actions as complex as cardiopulmonary and cardiovascular pumping. The energy that is produced in the metabolic chemical reactions is neither solar nor thermal energy, but rather ATP energy. ATP, also known as Adenine triphosphate, is a nucleotide, which is a monomer of a protein, that can store and transfer energy very diligently either around the cell or intercellular. ATP is the particle that helps us control all of our bodily functions pertaining to the cells in our body, so everything from breathing to digesting is strongly aided by ATP energy. Chemically, ATP is simply a nucleotide of adenine bonded to three phosphates where most of the energy is stored in-between the second and the third phosphate group. The energy that is located between these two groups is attributed as the main factor in most of the chemical reactions throughout the body. The ATP is arguably the most important particle in our cells due to the simple fact of if all ATP production in an organisms cells, then
very soon, that organism would perish since there is no force to keep the cells active (Marie, 206).
Catabolism is one of the first and most crucial steps in the metabolism process. Catabolism is primarily the arrangements of enzyme-induced reactions from which larger molecules in majority of living cells are broken down or corrupted. Part of the chemical energy released throughout catabolic processes is saved in the form of energy-rich compounds. Energy is only released in three phases. In the first stage, large molecules like proteins, polysaccharides, and lipids are broken down; small amounts of energy are released in the form of thermal energy in these expansions. In the second phase, the small molecules are exposed to copious amounts of oxygen, freeing chemical energy to form ATP as well as heat energy, to form a variety of compounds including: acetate, oxaloacetate, or a-oxoglutarate. These are exposed to carbon dioxide during the third phase, a repeated reaction series called the tricarboxylic acid (Krebs) cycle. Hydrogen particles or electrons from the transitional combinations formed during the cycle are transmitted through a succession of carrier molecules eventually to oxygen, forming water (H20). These procedures are known also as terminal respiration and oxidative phosphorylation (Bubnis, 208).