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What happens to the carbon atoms from a glucose molecule during complete respiration?
Hey, I've been thinking about this since my biology class the other day—remember when we did that experiment with yeast and sugar, watching bubbles pop up like crazy? That got me wondering: what actually happens to all those carbon atoms from one glucose molecule when the whole respiration thing runs its course? Like, glucose has six carbons, right, and they can't just vanish. Do they all turn into CO2 eventually, or do some stick around in other stuff? Kinda blows my mind how something so tiny gets broken down completely in our cells. Anyone got a clear picture of the step-by-step fate? (around 170 chars)
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Yeah, from what I've pieced together over the years messing with this stuff in school and even some late-night reading, those six carbons don't hang around long. Glycolysis chops glucose into two pyruvates without losing any carbons, then each pyruvate drops one carbon as CO2 when it turns into acetyl-CoA. The remaining four go into the Krebs cycle, where they get released as CO2 too—two per turn basically. So in the end, every single carbon ends up exhaled as carbon dioxide. No magic, just steady breakdown. If you're trying to visualize the whole flow, this cellular respiration chart really helped me wrap my head around it back when I was confused. Not saying it's perfect, but it clicked for me better than textbooks sometimes do. Still find it wild how our breathing ties right into that.