You are on page 1of 1

Name: _____________________

Article Title: How Do Organisms Obtain Energy?


Organisms, such as humans, take in "substrates" such as glucose, in our food.
During a process called respiration, we react these substrates with oxygen to give
carbon dioxide and water; this takes place in the mitochondria of our cells.
Along the way, energy is given out which is used to drive processes which take
place within cells (secretion, intracellular transport, muscle contraction etc.)
Originally, energy comes from the sun. When producers (a.k.a. plants and
certain types of bacteria) photosynthesize, their chlorophyll captures the
light energy and they transform this energy into the chemical potential
energy of organic molecules such as glucose.
The consumption of plants by animals— consumers in the food chain—
allows the energy of glucose to be used for the various functions (secretion,
intracellular transport and so on).
This usage of glucose and other substrates occurs through a process
called respiration. The cellular energy is actually stored within a molecule called
adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

You might also like