What happens to the electron' s energy as it moves through the electron transport chain?
1 Answer
The energy level goes up.
Explanation:
The energy level goes up.
As electrons move through the electron transport chain, protons are pumped through protein structures imbedded in the inner membrane. As the protons are pumped into the intermembrane space, a concentration gradient is formed due to more protons existing on the outside of the mitochondrial matrix then on the inside.
This concentration gradient can be seen as a form of potential energy and might be what the query about energy levels is asking about.
The protons will flow back into the mitochondrail matrix through specialized ATP synthase protein structures in a process called chemiosmosis. The movement of the protons along these specialized protein structures allow for ATP synthesis to occur, fixing a phosphate molecule to an adenosine diphosphate molecule to create adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
