Final answer:
During digestion, the banana is broken down into glucose through hydrolysis. Through cellular respiration, the glucose is further broken down in an exergonic reaction to produce ATP, which is used for kinetic and gravitational potential energy during the run.
Step-by-step explanation:
When the girl eats a banana before her run, her body undergoes a series of energy transformations as part of the metabolic process. Initially, during digestion, large molecules in the banana are broken down into smaller molecules by digestive enzymes. This process, called hydrolysis, involves the carbohydrates being broken down into simple sugars like glucose. Metabolic reactions occurring during digestion are catabolic since they involve breaking down complex molecules into simpler ones.
Secondly, cellular respiration takes the glucose and further breaks it down in the presence of oxygen to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the primary energy currency of the cell. This process of breaking down glucose is an exergonic reaction because it releases energy that was stored in the glucose bonds.
Finally, during her run, the ATP produced from glucose breakdown is used by her muscles to generate kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy, based on w = mg (where w is work, m is mass, and g is gravity).