Q. 18.78 - An Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry

Question

At the gym, you expend $310 kcal$ riding the stationary bicycle for $1 h$. How many moles of ATP will this require?

Step-by-Step Solution

Answer

The number of moles of ATP require is $42.46 \mathrm{moles} \mathrm{of} \mathrm{ATP}$.

Step 1: Given Information

We have given the energy is $310 \mathrm{kcal}$ and time is $1 h$.

Step 2: Simplify

Considering the theory that hydrolysis of $\mathrm{ATP}$ produces adenosine diphosphate(ADP), a phosphate group$\left(P_i\right)$ and the energy of $7.3 \mathrm{kcal} \mathrm{per} \mathrm{mole} \mathrm{of} \mathrm{ATP}$, that is

$ATP+H_{2}O\to ADO+P_i+7.3 \mathrm{kcal}/\mathrm{mole}$

From the equation, we can see that one mole of ATP generates $7.3 \mathrm{kcal}$ of energy. So,

$$\begin{gathered} \mathrm{mole} \mathrm{ATP}=\frac{310 \mathrm{kcal}}{7.3 {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{kcal}}{\mathrm{mole}}}} \\ \mathrm{mole} \mathrm{ATP}=42.46 \mathrm{moles} \mathrm{of} \mathrm{ATP} \end{gathered}$$