Why must a molecule be contorted before its bonds can break?

1. During chemical reactions certain bonds are broken and new ones are formed. 2. To get bonds into a state that allows them to break, the molecule must be somewhat contorted, and a small energy input achieves that. 3. This contorted state is called the transition state, and it is a high-energy, unstable state. 4. Reactant molecules do not last long in the transition state and quickly proceed to the next steps of the reaction. 5. Contorting the molecule does not change the free energy of the products, which is fixed by the reaction itself. 6. Phosphate attachment is a separate event that belongs to phosphorylation rather than to every reaction. _Source: OpenStax Biology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Metabolism", section 6.2 Potential, Kinetic, Free, and Activation Energy_