Question

The energy released by atp binding and hydrolysis is around 50 kj/mol. each "step" the kinesin moves the cargo approximately 8.5 nm. if each step of the kinesin requires one atp, how much energy does it take to move a vesicle all the way down your leg?

Answer 1

To move a vesicle all the way down your leg using the kinesin protein, it would require 117,647 steps, with each step requiring one ATP. This means that the total energy required would be 5,882,350 kJ.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the amount of energy required to move a vesicle down your leg using the kinesin protein, we first need to determine the number of steps it takes to cover the distance. We know that each step of the kinesin moves the cargo approximately 8.5 nm.

We can calculate the number of steps by dividing the total distance down your leg by the distance covered in each step. Let's assume the distance from the start to the end of your leg is 1 meter (1000 mm). 1 meter is equal to 1,000,000 nm. So, the number of steps required would be:

Number of Steps = Total Distance / Distance Covered in Each Step
Number of Steps = 1,000,000 nm / 8.5 nm
Number of Steps ~ 117,647

Since each step of the kinesin requires one ATP, we can calculate the total energy required to move the vesicle all the way down your leg by multiplying the number of steps by the energy released by ATP hydrolysis:

Total Energy = Number of Steps · Energy Released by ATP Hydrolysis
Total Energy = 117,647 · 50 kJ/mol
Total Energy = 5,882,350 kJ