Which stage produces by FAR the most ATP per glucose, and why?
- A
Glycolysis - it produces 32 ATP directly
- B
Krebs - because it occurs three times per glucose
- Ccheck_circle
Oxidative phosphorylation - it uses NADH/FADH2 from all earlier stages to make ATP via chemiosmosis
- D
Pyruvate oxidation - because each pyruvate generates 10 ATP
Explanation
Glycolysis and Krebs each net only 2 ATP. Oxidative phosphorylation (~26 ATP) dominates because each NADH yields ~2.5 and FADH2 ~1.5 ATP via the proton motive force.