Chapter 6: ActivitiesActivity 6.2 Chemiosmosis |
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In the early 1960s, the scientist Peter
Mitchell proposed a fresh idea—called the chemiosmotic hypothesis—to explain how
mitochondria and chloroplasts synthesize ATP. Mitchell suggested that ATP synthesis is
powered by the potential energy stored in a gradient of protons across a membrane. He
also proposed that the real job of the electron transport chain was to create this proton
gradient. In this activity, you'll see an elegant test of the chemiosmotic hypothesis, which
successfully demonstrated that a proton gradient can lead to ATP production.
Experimental Demonstration of Chemiosmosis Chapter 6, Section 6.4, Electron Transport and Chemiosmosis: The Chemiosmotic Hypothesis |