How do atp molecules store energy

You starve the fire of oxygen, and the flame flickers out. If a metabolic reaction is aerobic, it requires oxygen. Buy why? Here's an analogy. Think about lighting a campfire. What do you need? Animals store the energy obtained from the breakdown of food as ATP. Likewise, plants capture and store the energy they derive from light during photosynthesis in ATP molecules. ATP is a nucleotide consisting of an adenine base attached to a ribose sugar, which is attached to three phosphate groups.

These three phosphate groups are linked to one another by two high-energy bonds called phosphoanhydride bonds. How does DNA code for proteins? What is ATP? What is RNA? See all questions in Nucleic Acids. Impact of this question views around the world.

When a molecule of fatty acid is burned, energy is given off. Some of this energy is trapped in molecules of ATP, and some is lost in the form of heat. Each ATP molecule can then be transported elsewhere within the cell and used where needed. The energy-carrying part of an ATP molecule is the triphosphate "tail". Three phosphate groups are joined by covalent bonds. The electrons in these bonds carry energy.