1) Energy drinks have two key ingredients, one is sugar, and they have lots of it! What we call sugar is the disaccharide sucrose, which is composed of glucose and fructose. The other component is some sort of metabolism stimulant, like caffeine. Do energy drinks really provide energy? If so, how?
2) Mountain climbers get in trouble when climbing at high altitude because there is less oxygen in the atmosphere as you go up in altitude. Would an energy drink help them improve their performance? Explain
3) If you were to design your own energy drink, which of the following components would you add (assuming none of these gets degraded during digestion): NAD+, NADH, Pyruvate, Acetyl-coA, CO2. Your answer will be different depending on how you are judging it: 1) which one has the most energy per carbon, 2) which one would make the most ATP per molecule, and 3) which one would require the least number of steps to make ATP. Explain why.
4) What if you were designing an energy drink exclusively for high altitude mountain climbers, which component would you add the most? NAD+, NADH, Pyruvate, Acetyl-coA, CO2. Explain why. What is the function of each of these components in cell respiration?
5) If instead of making an energy drink, you come up with an energy injection, how would that affect the ingredients you put into the shot? Think in terms of polarity and tonicity.
6) How do we lose weight? Where is the mass going?
7) Some people think that you lose weight as heat or as sweat, explain why this is wrong even though we produce do heat and sweat with exercise.
8) Some boxers and wrestlers dehydrate abruptly by spending time in a sauna and sweating a lot in order to lose weight and compete with a lower tier, however this is a serious health hazard, explain what happens to the tonicity of someone who does this.
9) Why do we breathe? Which molecules do we breathe in, and what is the purpose? Which molecules do we breathe out, and where do they come from?