The energy in organic molecules is released in a series of steps, rather than a single step, because:

Imagine that a new planet is discovered with two moons of equal mass: moon a and moon b. the mass of the new planet is greater than the combined mass of its moons. moon a is farther away from the new planet than moon b. what is the planet's gravitational pull on moon a compared to the planet's gravitational pull on moon b? the planet's gravity repels moon a with a greater force than it repels moon b, which is why moon a is farther away. the gravitational pull on moon b is greater than on moon a because moon b is closer to the new planet than moon a. the gravitational pull on moon b is greater than on moon a because moon b is farther away from the new planet than moon a. the gravitational pull on moon a is the same as the gravitational pull on moon b because distance does not affect the planet's gravity.