Understand the role movement of electrons plays in energy exchanges in cells

Energy production within a cell involves many coordinated chemical pathways. Most of these pathways are combinations of oxidation and reduction reactions. Oxidation and reduction occur in tandem. An oxidation reaction strips an electron from an atom in a compound, and the addition of this electron to another compound is a reduction reaction. Because oxidation and reduction usually occur together, these pairs of reactions are called oxidation reduction reactions, or redox reactions.

What You’ll Learn to Do

• Relate the movement of electrons to oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions
• Describe how cells store and transfer free energy using ATP

Learning Activities

The learning activities for this section include the following:

• Electrons and Energy
• ATP in Living Systems
• Self Check: Redox Reactions