1.

3: Metabolism

me—tab—o—lism (n)
[muh-tab-uh-liz-uh m]
the sum of the physical and chemical
processes in an organism by which its
material substance is produced,
maintained, and destroyed, and by which
energy is made available.
Survival of Living Organisms

Living organisms must continually

capture, store, and use ENERGY
(defined as the ability to do work) to
carry out the functions of life.

If not, they will not survive.
Breaking Down / Building Up

As part of metabolism, organic

compounds are broken down to
provide heat and energy in the
process called catabolism.

Simpler molecules are also used
to build more complex compounds
like proteins for growth and repair
of tissues as part of anabolism.
 Catabolic or Anabolic?

(a) protein synthesis

anabolic

(b) digestion

catabolic

(c) DNA synthesis

anabolic

(d) photosynthesis

anabolic

(e) cellular respiration

catabolic
 Energy

Energy is the ability to do work

Work is the transfer of energy from one body or
place to another

There are different kinds of energy

Potential (PE)the energy stored by virtue of an
object’s position within an attractive or repulsive
force field

Kinetic (KE)the energy possessed by moving
objects.l

The study of energy is called
Thermodynamics
 The Laws of Thermodynamics

All of the changes in energy that take

place in the universe ( from nuclear
explosions to the buzzing of a bee ) are
governed by two laws called the Law
of Thermodynamics.
The First Law of Thermodynamics

concerns amounts of energy

states that energy can change from one
form to another and can transform from
potential energy to kinetic energy, but it
can never be lost or made

the total amount of energy remains
constant
 According to your text, the First Law of
Thermodynamics states that

The total amount of energy in the

universe is constant.

Energy cannot be created or destroyed
but only converted from one form into
another.

If an object or process gains an amount
of energy, it does so at the expense of a
loss in energy somewhere else in the
universe.
 The First Law of Thermodynamics

The lion is acquiring energy

He is not creating new energy just transferring
potential energy stored in the giraffe’s tissues
to his own body. There it will fuel running,
growling, etc.

Energy not used by the lion after it consumes
the giraffe is given off as heat. Energy is not
lost, just converted to a non-useful form
(random molecular motion)
 The Second Law of
Thermodynamics

concerns this transformation of PE to

KE of random molecular motion (heat)

states that disorder in the universe
constantly increases. Energy
spontaneously converts to less
organized forms

Heat is the energy of random molecular
motion
Disorder is more likely than order

It’s more likely that a stack of six cans

will tumble over than that six cans will
spontaneously leap one onto another to
form a stack.

As energy is transferred from one molecule to
another, some always leaks as KE of motion
and increases the random motion of
molecules.

With every transfer of energy, more PE is given
off as heat.

In biological systems, the amount of useful
energy dissipates. That’s why organism must
continually take in energy.

Even though the total amount of energy does
not change, the amount of useful energy
available to do work decreases.
 Entropy

is a measure of the randomness or

disorder in energy or in a collection of
objects.

Entropy increases when disorder
increases.

Greater disorder is achieved when the
arrangement of a collection of objects
becomes more randomly assorted.

When energy becomes so randomized in a
system that it is no longer available to do work,
the energy lost due to disorder is called
ENTROPY

ENTROPY increases when:
 solid reactants become liquid or gaseous products
 liquid reactants become gaseous products

 fewer moles of reactant molecules form a greater

number of moles of product molecules
 complex molecules react to form simpler molecules

 solutes move from an area of high concentration to

an area of lower concentration until they are uniformly
distributed in the given volume
 Increase or Decrease
in Entropy?

(a) an arm is raised

Decrease. potential energy is increased

(b) protein is digested into amino acids in the duodenum

Increaseamino acids are more randomly arranged

(c) chromosomes move along spindle fibres

Decreasemore ordered arrangement

(d) oxygen diffuses into capillaries in alveoli in the lungs

Increasemolecules move randomly

(e) a cell divides

Increasemore random arrangement
J. Willard Gibbs
 Gibbs Free Energy

discovered a relationship between the energy
change, entropy change, and the temperature of
a reaction

The total amount of energy which is either used
up or released during a chemical reaction.

Gibbs free energy (∆G) = (∆H) - t (∆s): where (∆
H) is the change in enthalpy, calculated by
adding up the amount of energy released or used
up to break or form chemical bonds during the
reaction, t is the temperature at which the
reaction took place, and (∆S) is the change in
entropy, or amount of disorder, that occurs in the
molecules involved during the reaction.
 Gibbs Free Energy

energy that can do useful work

A change in Gibbs free energy is symbolized
as ∆G and is equal to Gfinal - Ginitial.

Changes are spontaneous if ∆G is negative
(Gfinal is less than Ginitial).

A change with a negative ∆G in one direction
has an equivalent positive ∆G in the reverse
direction.

Thus, a reaction that is spontaneous in one
direction is nonspontaneous in the reverse
direction.
Signs of Gibbs Free Energy
 Exergonic Reaction

a chemical reaction in which the energy

of the products is less than the energy
of the reactants (a net release of free
energy)

Spontaneous

∆G is negative

chemists call it an exothermic reaction

energy is released
Draw a labelled potential energy diagram
for a hypothetical exergonic chemical
reaction.
The products are more
stable than the reactants
in an exergonic reaction
because of the lower
total bond energies of
the products compared
to the reactants
 Endergonic Reaction

a chemical reaction in which the energy
of the products is more than the energy
of the reactants (a net gain of free
energy)

not spontaneousmust be forced

∆G is positive

chemists call it an endothermic reaction

energy is absorbed

Cells use exergonic processes to drive

endergonic ones.
Cellular Respiration vs Photosynthesis

In the overall process of cellular

respiration, 2870 kJ of free energy per
mole of glucose processed is made
available to the cell for performing
cellular work:
Cellular Respiration vs Photosynthesis

Conversely, in the process of

photosynthesis, 2870 kJ of work is done
by light energy for every mole of
glucose formed in the overall process
(this amount of free energy is absorbed
in the overall process):
Metabolic Disequilibrium

1. Work must be done on a system to

move it away from equilibrium.
Metabolic reactions are reversible and
would reach equilibrium in vitro. A
system at equilibrium has ∆G = 0 and
can do no worki.e., a dead cell

2. In order to remain alive, your cells
need to avoid equilibrium - i.e., maintain
metabolic disequilibrium.

Living organisms avoid this situation by
preventing the accumulation of solutes
in solution.

Most of the reactions of metabolism are
a series of chain reactions in which the
product of one reaction is the reactant
of another reaction.
 Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)

ATP is the energy currency of the cell
and consists of the nitrogen base
adenine bonded to ribose and to 3
phosphates (C10H16N5O13P3)

when the cell requires free energy to drive an
endergonic reaction, an enzyme called
ATPase catalyzes the hydrolysis of the
terminal phosphate of an ATP molecule,

results in a molecule of adenosine
diphosphate, ADP, a molecule of inorganic
phosphate, Pi,

releases of 54 kJ/mol of free energy in a
living cell
Hydrolysis of ATP

exergonic process
 Phosphorylation

the process of attaching a phosphate

group to an organic molecule

an active cell requires large amounts of
ATP (muscle cell uses about 600 million
ATP molecules per minute) to power all
the endergonic reactions that must
occur.
 Redox Reactions

Oxidation: a chemical reaction in which
an atom loses one or more electrons

Reduction: a chemical reaction in
which an atom gains one or more
electrons

Redox reaction: a chemical reaction
involving the transfer of one or more
electrons from one atom to another; a
reaction in which oxidation and reduction
occur
 Redox Reactions

Reducing agent: the substance that

loses an electron in a redox reaction;
the substance that causes the reduced
atom to become reduced

Oxidizing agent: the substance that
gains an electron in a redox reaction;
the substance that causes the oxidized
atom to become oxidized
Redox Reactions