What is the chemical equation for aerobic cellular respiration?

Formula:

C6H12O6 + 6x O2 - > 6x CO2 + 6x H2O + ATP

Explanation:

It is important to know that the equation listed above is a summary equation. The process of cellular respiration involves many different steps (reactions) to break down glucose using oxygen to produce carbon dioxide, water and energy in the form of ATP.

The 6 carbon atoms present in a glucose molecule make it possible to form 6 carbon dioxide molecules.

The 12 hydrogen atoms in the glucose make it possible for form 6 water molecules.

To balance the oxygen atoms for the reactant side, you need to count 6 atoms from the glucose. In order to form the 6 molecules of carbon dioxide and 6 molecules of water you will have a total of 18 oxygen atoms on the product side (6 * 2) + (6 * 1) = 18. In order to get 18 oxygen atoms on the reactant side you need an additional 12 oxygen atoms from oxygen O2 to balance the numbers.

The process of cellular respiration will produce 36 ATP molecules in Eukaryotes (plant/animal etc.) for every one glucose molecule. The process will produce 38 ATP molecules for every one glucose in Prokaryotes (bacteria).

The reason why eukaryotes produce the smaller amount of ATP is that they need to use energy to move the pyruvate (from glycolysis) needed for the Krebs cycle into the mitochondria.