ATP from glucose

[SStell]

It is commonly accepted that 36 ATP molecules come from one glucose molecule. How is this number arrived at, determined, observed or experimentally verified?

Edited February 24, 2017 by SStell

[John Cuthber]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_respiration#Efficiency_of_ATP_production

[SStell]

thanks

[BabcockHall]

One needs to specify whether we are talking about bacteria or humans. The generally accepted number for humans is 30-32 ATP per glucose, as John Cuthber's link provides. The reason that there is uncertainty is that there are more than one ways to move the electrons of cytoplasmic NADH into the mitochondria. IIRC in bacteria, the number of ATP per glucose is slightly higher and may be 36.