Cellular respiration or aerobic respiration is a series of chemical reactions which begin with the reactants

of sugar in the presence of oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water as waste products.
Cellular respiration has four stages
The first metabolic pathway during cellular respiration is glycolysis. Coming from the Greek word
―glyk‖ which means ―sweet‖ and ―lysis‖ which means ―dissolution―, glycolysis is the breakdown of
one molecule of glucose (sugar) into two molecules of pyruvate.
As shown in the above diagram, glycolysis takes place in the cytosol.
C6H12O6 + 2 NAD+ + 2 ADP + 2 P → 2 pyruvic acid, (CH3(C=O) COOH + 2 ATP + 2 NADH + 2 H+
Glycolysis produce two ATP molecules, four molecules are actually produced during the entire process.
However, two molecules are consumed during the preparatory phase, hence, resulting to a net of just two
ATP molecules.
The second stages is so-called ―link reaction” that occurs. Pyruvate from glycolysis is oxidized
(converted) to acetyl coA, one molecule of NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), and one molecule
of carbon dioxide.
The third stage is called as the Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) cycle, or simply the Citric Acid cycle, the
Krebs cycle (identified by Hans Adolf Krebs)
The Krebs cycle, which occurs in the matrix of the mitochondrion, includes a series of oxidation-
reduction reactions that result in the oxidation of the acetyl group to two carbon dioxide molecules