Measuring Differences in Muscular Activity

Introduction:
While performing various activities, muscles in your body contract. Muscle contraction requires energy.
This energy is obtained through cellular respiration. Cellular Respiration is the process of converting the
energy stored in food to energy in the form of ATP. During respiration, oxygen is required, and carbon
dioxide is given off as a waste product. Would an increase in muscular activity, such as running, create an
increased energy demand on the muscles? If this occurs, would there be a corresponding increase in the
amount of carbon dioxide produced by the body?

Bromothymol blue is an acid/base indicator. It is blue when basic, green when neutral and yellow when
acidic. When carbon dioxide is added to a solution of Bromothymol blue, it turns green and then yellow
depending on the amount of carbon dioxide added. The amount of carbon dioxide in the bromothymol
green or yellow can be determined by a technique called titration. Adding sodium hydroxide to
bromothymol green or yellow will change the color back to bromothymol blue. The number of drops of
sodium hydroxide required to make this change indicates how much carbon dioxide was dissolved into
the solution. This procedure is called titration.

Purpose:
 To describe how carbon dioxide alters the color of bromothymol blue.
 To learn how to use a titration technique to measure the amount of carbon dioxide added to
bromothymol blue.
 To compare the amounts of carbon dioxide produced by muscle tissues during different activities.

Materials: 50 mL Beaker Stopwatch

Bromothymol Blue Solution Drinking Straws
0.4% Sodium Hydroxide Solution Graph Paper

Safety Precautions:
1. Safety goggles and laboratory aprons are required for this lab.
2. Use caution when handling any type of glassware as it can break and cut you.
3. Always use special caution when working with laboratory chemicals, as they may irritate the skin or
cause staining of the skin and clothing. Never touch or taste any chemical unless instructed to do so
by the teacher.
4. Be careful when blowing through the straw into your solution of bromothymol blue.
5. Sodium hydroxide can cause burns, although you are working with a very dilute solution. Be careful
not to spill the sodium hydroxide on your skin or clothing. If there is a spill, rinse the area with water
and notify the instructor.

Procedure Part A: Amount of Carbon Dioxide Exhaled After Quiet Muscular

Activity – Sitting

1. Obtain 2 clean 50 mL beakers. Place 25 mL of bromothymol blue solution into each beaker.
2. With a straw, blow your breath into the solution for exactly 30 seconds. Do not suck on the straw
and do not blow into the beaker so hard that you splash the solution out of the beaker.
3. After 30 seconds of blowing your breath into the solution, add a drop of sodium hydroxide solution
into the beaker.
4. Swirl the beaker to mix the contents.
Copyright © Amy Brown Science
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5. Wait at least 20 seconds, then add another drop of sodium hydroxide to the beaker. Swirl the beaker
and wait 20 more seconds.
6. Continue to add and COUNT the number of drops of sodium hydroxide needed to return the liquid to
the original blue color. Use the color of the bromothymol blue in the second beaker as a comparison.
It may help to hold the beakers up to the light to compare them.
7. Please remember: After adding one drop of sodium hydroxide, you must swirl the contents of the
beaker and wait at least 20 seconds before adding another drop.
8. Record in the data table the number of drops of sodium hydroxide required to return the
bromothymol solution back to its original blue color.
9. Repeat the entire procedure (steps 1-8) 2 more times.
10. Determine the average number of drops of sodium hydroxide needed in the three trials.

Procedure Part B: Amount of Carbon Dioxide Exhaled After Strenuous Muscular

Activity - Running

1. Run in place for 2 minutes.

2. Blow into the solution of bromothymol blue for exactly 30 seconds.
3. Repeat the titration procedure from Part A by adding the sodium hydroxide one drop at a time.
4. Record your results in the data table.
5. Repeat two more times. Find the average for the three trials.

Data Table: Drops of Sodium Hydroxide

Trial Sitting Running

Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Average

Final Observations:
1. What effect does carbon dioxide have on bromothymol blue?
2. What is a titration technique?
3. What did the number of drops of sodium hydroxide added to the bromothymol solution indicate?
4. What is the source of the carbon dioxide given off?
5. What two compounds are required for cellular respiration?
6. How is each compound from the previous question obtained?
7. Which condition, sitting or running, required more drops of sodium hydroxide to return the bromothymol
solution to its original color? Why?
8. Why is more carbon dioxide produced during strenuous exercise than when the muscles are at rest?
9. Do the averages for your data agree with that of other students? Why or why not?
10. Prepare a bar graph showing the averages of your results. You should have one bar for “sitting” and one bar
for “running”. Which variable should go on the x-axis? Which variable should go on the y-axis? Be sure to
title your graph.
11. Looking at your graph, try to estimate the data you might obtain if the experiment were performed while
“sleeping” and while “walking”. Add two more bars to you graph to show these results. Explain your answer.
Name: Date:
Copyright © Amy Brown Science
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 Measuring Differences in Muscular Activity
Student Data Pages

Purpose of the Lab: _______________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Data Table: Drops of Sodium Hydroxide

Trial Sitting Running

Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Average

Final Observations:

1. What effect does carbon dioxide have on bromothymol blue? _____________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What is a titration technique? _________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What did the number of drops of sodium hydroxide added to the bromothymol solution indicate?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. What is the source of the carbon dioxide given off? _________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. What two compounds are required for cellular respiration? _______________________________________________

6. How is each compound from the previous question obtained? ____________________________________________

Copyright © Amy Brown Science
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 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Which condition, sitting or running, required more drops of sodium hydroxide to return the
bromothymol solution to its original color? Why?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Why is more carbon dioxide produced during strenuous exercise than when the muscles are at rest?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Do the averages for your data agree with that of other students? Why or why not? _____________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Obtain a sheet of graph paper. Prepare a bar graph showing the averages of your results. You should
have one bar for “sitting” and one bar for “running”. Which variable should go on the x-axis? Which
variable should go on the y-axis? Be sure to title your graph.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

11. Looking at your graph, try to estimate the data you might obtain if the experiment were performed
while “sleeping” and while “walking”. Add two more bars to you graph to show these results.
Explain your answer.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Copyright © Amy Brown Science

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