Transcript for:
ATP's Role as an Energy Currency

then comes another important question why is ATP such a good energy currency molecule well the reason is because ATP can be regenerated I told you earlier ATP to ADP and phosphate releases the energy so that the cells can do whatever it needs to do uh movement of Celia active transport anabolic reactions da but when the cells need more ATP it can just join the ADP and phosphates together and ATP is thus generated so that's a good thing okay so it's an unlimited source of energy as long as respiration continues to happen by the way okay uh second thing ATP is also a molecule that can be easily hydrolized ATP you don't want you don't want a molecule that is stingy with its energy okay you want a molecule that when the cells need energy ATP can immediately provide it okay um so you can release the energy when the cells are immediately require it but just because ATP can easily get hydrolyzed ATP should not spontaneously hydroly imagine two ATP molecules chilling over here and one of the ATP just spontaneously hydes you don't want that to happen because that's just wasted energy so the cells will only hydroly ATP when necessary it is a molecule that can easily get hydrolized but it does not spontaneously hydroly the we reason is because for ATP to be hydrolized it needs an enzyme to break it down and the name of that enzyme is called atpa for example let's look at an at let's look at an ATP molecule here and I'm also drawing a cell surface membrane with a protein pump now let's say that protein pump needs energy to carry out active transport so the ATP wants to provide the energy but for the ATP to provide energy it has to attached to an enzyme called atps you must know this and the atps breaks down the ATP into ADP and phosphate and the hydrolysis of ATP will release the energy and that energy is used for the active transport so that is another very important thing to also knowe ATP cannot spontaneously hydroly but can only be broken down using atpa so these are the important things and of course last but not least it's also good to know that the hydrolysis of ATP releases large amounts of energy I mean you want a lot of energy for your C because you know cellular reactions require lots of energy so this is why ATP is a good energy currency molecule so long story short ATP can only be broken down in the presence of atpa it does not spontaneously break down the hydrolysis of ATP releases a lot of energy which is good okay and the most important thing is ADP and phosphate can be joined together to regenerate the ATP molecule this is why ATP is such a good energy currency molecule