The main points
• Food (usually glucose, a sugar) “burns” using oxygen
• releasing useful energy
• producing carbon dioxide and water as waste products
There are two main stages...
carbon dioxide & water
oxygen
ENERGY
GLUCOSE
PYRUVIC ACID
AEROBIC
ANAEROBIC
energy
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But...
Pyruvic acid is VERY poisonous !Pyruvic acid is VERY poisonous !Pyruvic acid is VERY poisonous !Pyruvic acid is VERY poisonous !
So it has to be destroyed!
PYRUVIC ACID
carbon dioxide & water
oxygen
ENERGY
GLUCOSE
AEROBIC
ANAEROBIC
energy
So it has to be destroyed!
GLUCOSE
ANAEROBIC
energy
And so, of course, it can’t be oxidised to release all that lovely energy!
What happens to it ?
• That depends what sort of organism you are
Plant Animal MicrobeClick on the picture to find out
or here to move on
Ouch!
The lactic acid is a pain!
It’s what makes muscles hurt when they’ve been used a lot -
so much, in fact, that they can’t get oxygen fast enough and have to respire…
ANAEROBICALLY
Some useful links
• Introduction
• Aerobic respiration
• Anaerobic respiration
• Fermentation – anaerobic respiration in microbes.
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