Thermodynamics and Types of Reactions Before we get into learning about the mitochondrion, we need to know a little bit about the laws of thermodynamics. First Law of Thermodynamics: energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only transferred. - For example, when boiling a pot of water, the chemical or electrical energy is converted into heat. No energy is lost. Second Law of Thermodynamics: entropy increases each time energy is transferred or transformed. - For example, melting an ice cube will result in the (solid) ice cube turning into (liquid) water, which is a disordered state. An oxidation reaction is a reaction with a loss of electrons. This is often found in biology as the loss of a hydrogen atom. Losing an electron (which is negative) means the molecule has become a little bit more positive, so in a reaction like this: the oxidized molecule will typically be denoted with a '+'. In a reduction re...
Welcome! The information here can help anyone who wants to learn biology, whether it be high school biology or AP level biology. If you don't already know some basic chemistry, learn that first! A lot of stuff in the biochemistry topic builds on chemistry, so knowing it beforehand will help when going through these topics. Comment for any questions! And most of all, have fun learning biology :)