I have a fair foundation in chemical thermodynamics from my general chemistry courses, but I have not had a class in biochemistry. This question, however, is about thermodynamics. Unfortunately, while I appreciate your reponse, it doesn't answer my question. In most basic terms, for a system to move...

I'm reading about glycolysis in a general biology textbook. It says that in the first 5 steps the free energy increases with each step. Two of those steps are powered by ATP, but the rest are not. In those other steps, how does the free energy increase? What powers it? Thanks.