“Adenosine Triphosphate”

The Energy Currency of All Life

David Guez – PhD Neurobiology – Ecotoxicology

Jim Wilson – Director – Founder

It is known – Chemical Reactions Sustain Life! Some are favourable and can be facilitated without additional energy, while others need a source of energy to occur.

To help us explain, let’s imagine a dam; water accumulates upstream due to the dam’s presence. This water represents potential energy because once released, it can power a turbine that will produce electrical energy. This could represent a favourable chemical reaction, that is, water will go downstream whenever it can. But water does not go upstream, and if we need water to go upstream it needs to be pumped, we need energy to do that, in this we could draw a parallel with an unfavourable chemical reaction that requires energy to allow it to occur. In our world, the most common energy currency is electricity, which can be produced from various sources such as solar, hydroelectric, and fossil fuel combustion etc. Although life uses electricity to transmit information, it doesn’t use it as a universal energy source. All life forms on the planet use the same chemical energy currency, Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).