Tittle: Cellular Respiration

Objectives:
1. To organise the experiment setting for cellular respiration process.
2. To observe the effect of different substrates to cellular respiration process.
3. To observe the effect of different temperature to cellular respiration process.
Introduction:
Cellular respiration, the process by which organism combine oxygen with foodstuff
molecules, diverting the chemical energy in these substances into life-sustaining
activities and discarding as waste products, carbon dioxide and water. Organism that
do not depend on oxygen degrade foodstuffs in a process called fermentation.
Converting the foodstuff is to convert the energy contained in chemical bonds into
energy-rich compound adenosine triphosphate (ATP, which captures the chemical
energy obtained from the breakdown of food molecules and releases it to fuel other
cellular processes. The citric acid plays a central role in the breakdown or catabolism
of organic fuel molecules, the cycle is made up of eight steps catalyzed by eight
different enzymes that produce energy at several different stages. Most of the
energy obtained from citric cycle, however is captured by the compound NAD +
molecules, which are reduced (through the process of adding hydrogen ion) to the
same number of NADH molecules, and one FAD molecule, which is similarly
reduced to a single FADH molecules. These molecules go on to fuel the third stage
of cellular respiration, whereas carbon dioxide, which is also produced by the citric
cycle is released as a waste product.
Fermentation, a chemical process by which molecules such as glucose are broken
down anaerobically. More broadly, fermentation is the foaming that occurs during the
manufacture of wine and beer, a process at least 10,000 years old. The frothing
results from the evolution of carbon dioxide gas, though this was not recognized until
the 17th century. In the absence of air, extracts of muscle catalyze the formation of
lactate from glucose and that the same intermediate compounds formed in the
fermentation of grain are produced by muscle. The fermentation reactions are not
peculiar to the action of yeast but also occur in many other instances of glucose
utilization.
In this experiment, the purposes of this experiment is to observe the effect of
different substrate and temperature to cellular respiration process.
Hypothesis:
Formation of foam is at highest point when it achieve optimum temperature and
enough concentration of substrate.
Variables:
Manipulated variable: temperature
Responding variable: formation of foam
Constant variable: size of transparent glass
Apparatus:
1. 4 units of transparent glass
2. Tablespoon
3. Measuring cup
4. Marker pen
5. Labelling sticker
6. Ruler
7. Scissors
8. Stopwatch
Materials:
1. Dry yeast
2. Sugar
3. Wheat flour
4. Boiling water
5. Cold water (4-100C)
6. Tap water
Procedures:
1. Transparent glasses were labelled A, B, C and D by using marker pen.
2. 100mL of 400C were prepared for transparent glasses A and B. (if a water
bath is available for the experiment)

#If water bath is not available, use the procedure below to obtain water at
body temperature:
3. To obtain 100ml body temperature water, 20ml of boiling water was poured
into 80ml of tap water.
4. 100ml water is prepared (at body temperature) for each transparent glasses A
and B.
5. 100ml of cold water is prepared for transparent glass C.
6. 100ml of boiling water is prepared for transparent glass D
7. By using spoon, one tablespoon of dry yeast is added in each transparent
glass.
8. By using spoon, one tablespoon of sugar is added into transparent glasses A,
C and D
9. By using spoon, one tablespoon of wheat flour is added into transparent
glasses B
10. The mixture is mixed well.
11. By using marker pen, the level of water of each transparent glass were
marked off.
12. The mixture is left for 25 minutes.
13. The activity for each glass is observed.
14. The thickness of foam in each glass is measured
15. Data is recorded and been tabulated.
Observation:
 Labelled glasses Thickness of foam formed (cm)
A 3.5
B 2.7
C 1.5
D 0.0

Discussion:
The thickest formation of foam formed is at labelled glass A. The presence of sugar
as the main source of cellular respiration for yeast and suitable temperature which is
at body temperature increase the rate of cellular respiration within 25 minutes. Glass
D does not form any form because the temperature is not suitable for the enzymatic
reaction to occur. Although it have the same substrate as glass A but the
temperature makes the enzyme denatured and the process of formation of foam
stop.
The precautions of this experiment is to wear gloves when handling boiling water to
avoid water spillage from direct into skin. Next, the eyes must be perpendicular to
the scale to avoid parallax error.
Conclusion:
Living organism will undergo cellular respiration process, cellular respiration process
divided into two which is aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration. Presence of
oxygen, it reacts with glucose and undergo aerobic respiration and produce carbon
dioxide, water and energy in the form of ATP. Absence of oxygen, animal cell will
undergo anaerobic respiration and breakdown of glucose will produce lactic acid,
and energy. While for plant cell, it undergoes fermentation breakdown of glucose will
produce carbon dioxide and alcohol. Glass A formed the thickest foam while glass D
does not form any foam. Hypothesis is accepted.
References:
Book:
1. Campbell, N. A., Reece, J. B., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wassermen, S. A.,
Minorsky, P. V. & Jackson, R. B. (2018). Biology. (11th Ed.). Pearson
Benjamin Cummings. USA.
Websites:
1.
2. https://www.britannica.com/science/cellular-respiration
Questions:
1. Define fermentation in living cells.
Fermentation is an anaerobic process performed by a cell to generate
chemical energy in the form of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) without
undergoes citric acid cycle.
2. Write an equation for cellular respiration.
 C6H12O6 + 6O2 → 6CO2 + 6H2O + ATP
3. What is the function of sugar in this experiment?
Sugar act as main source for yeast to supply energy
4. Predict what will happen if container B is plugged with a balloon. Explain your
answer.
The balloon will inflate. It’s because of carbon dioxide that released by yeast
during