CHEM 1050 Lecture 5: Thermochemistry Part 5.pdf
11 Feb 2015
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The answer lies in the coupling of reactions. Your body extracts gibbs free energy from the foods we eat. Consider the single nutrient glucose (also known as dextrose or blood sugar). Carbon atoms are black, oxygen atoms are red and nitrogen atoms are blue. ) When glucose is burned in the presence of air, all the gibbs free energy is release as thermal energy. Instead, your body makes use of a large number of reactions to release gibbs free energy in small steps and the energy is stored in small quantities that can be used later. The most important method by which gibbs free energy is stored in your body is through the formation of atp from adp. Within a typical human cell, this reaction takes place 32 times for each molecule of glucose that is oxidized. (in bacterial cells, it takes place.
