ATP Cellular Respiration Lab

Problem: How many times does my body undergo Cellular Respiration during exercise?

Hypothesis: Create a hypothesis to answer the problem question based on your personal
experience. This should be
Relevant to your personal data and will be individual for each person (so not a
group hypothesis).

Background: As skeletal muscles contract and relax, they move bones in your body. This work
requires energy. Muscles get energy from ATP molecules made during the process
of cellular respiration. During continuous activity, the muscles begin to use up their
energy supply and oxygen and start to accumulate waste products. As a result, the
muscles become fatigued, losing their ability to contract and the individual begins
to feel ‘tired’. Cellular respiration requires oxygen (which is breathed in) and creates
carbon dioxide (which is breathed out). The equation for cellular respiration is
below:

C6H12O6 + 6 O2 6 CO2 + 6 H2O + 36 ATP (energy)

This lab will address how exercise (increased muscle activity) affects the rate of
cellular respiration. The American College of Sports medicine has created two
formulas we will use in this lab to calculate how much oxygen is used during the
exercise and therefore, determine how many times your body underwent cellular
respiration for that activity.

For this lab, we will examine Absolute Oxygen Consumption and Relative Oxygen
Consumption. Absolute Oxygen Consumption is based on expensive and extensive
lab research on human Oxygen consumption while running a 1.5 mile in 8-15
minutes.

Absolute: oxygen consumption = (speed in m/min) x (0.2 ml/kg/min per m/min) +

3.5 ml/kg/min

Theoretically, two individuals running the same distance over the same amount of
time will use the same amount of oxygen and therefore have the same amount of
cellular respiration, per amount of body weight. However, the larger/bigger the
individual, the further that oxygen must travel throughout the blood stream and
therefore this information can be slightly different. That is why we also examine the
Relative Oxygen Consumption.

Relative: oxygen consumption = (your weight / 2.2lb/kg) X Oxygen Consumption

(from Table 1)
Then divide by 1000ml/L to get your average L of Oxygen per minute of run.

Materials: Meter sticks (we will share the few I have if needed), clothes for EXERCISE

Pre-Lab QA: 1) Write down the formula for Cellular Respiration. C6H12O6 + 6O2 --> 6CO2 + 6H2O +
36 or 38 ATP molecules. How can knowing the amount of oxygen used help you
determine how many times this reaction occurs? Knowing the amount of oxygen
used to help you determine how many times this reaction occurs because If enough
oxygen is present is cells, each glucose molecule will produce ~38 ATPs - lots of energy, for lots
of cellular work.
 2) What are your independent and dependent variables. The independent variable
in this experiment is the time and the dependent variable is the value we will be
running. Constants? Our rate of speed will be constant as we wont be decelerating
once we start the run.
3) Predict how well you will perform in this lab. I recommend examining the tables
at the end of the lab.
4) How many meters are in a mile? There are 1609.34 meters in a mile. How can
you turn mph into m/min? You can do this by dividing the mph by 2.237. Multiply the miles by the
meters to get the meters per second.

Procedure: You will work in in your lab groups. It is recommended that 2 group members
perform the exercise while the other two collect the data and then switch. Each
group member should complete each exercise.

Exercise 1: Running a 1.5 minute mile

1. We will travel to either the indoor or outdoor track. 1-2 group members should
prepare to time and the others should be prepared to run the 1.5 min mile. The
more you apply yourself, the better and more accurate your results. Please note, I
will not force you to run, but if you do not, your data will be ridiculous because the
norm charts are based on running an 8-15min 1.5 mile.
2. Document your time in Table 1 below.
3. Switch roles with your lab mates and repeat the exercise until all lab mates are
done.
4. Complete the calculations required to complete each table.

Exercise Table 1:
Name Time for 1.5 Time Absolute Table 1 Relative
mile (min) converted to Oxygen Predicted Oxygen
m/min Consumption Oxygen Consumpti
ml/kg/min Consumpti on mL/min
on
Aakash 11.37 193.1213 42.12426
seconds

Exercise Table 2:
Name Absolute Norm Ranking Relative Norm Ranking
Oxygen for Absolute Oxygen for Relative
Consumption Oxygen Consumption Oxygen
Consumption Consumption
(Table 2) (Table 3)

Results: Graph your results. I am not going to tell you how to graph, but here is what to keep
in mind: this is a visual representation of your data. It should be clear, neat,
accurate and easy to determine what trends you are trying to show. Feel free to
discuss the best way to set up your graph with your lab mates.
Analysis: Now you know your oxygen consumption amounts. What does this have to do with
cellular respiration? Refer back to pre-lab Question 1. How can you apply the data
you got in lab to determine how much cellular respiration you and your lab mates
performed? Make sure to include all calculations and units!

Conclusions: Write a conclusion that includes whether or not you accepted your hypothesis, what
information your gathered in the lab, what kinds of trends you saw in the data, how
you analyzed your results and what conclusions you were able to draw after the lab.
Be sure to include how you compared to your lab mates. Make sure to end with the
various types of error (there is never just one) as well as what can be done to
correct it or how the lab can be improved if repeated.