AQA GCSE Science BIOLOGY 2 Unit B2.6 Aerobic and anaerobic respiration

• Know and understand that respiration in cells can take place aerobically or anaerobically.

• Know and understand that the energy released in respiration is used in a variety of ways.

• Know that the human body needs to react to the increased demand for energy during exercise.

• You should be able to use your skills, knowledge and understanding to interpret the data relating to the effects of exercise on the human body.

AQA GCSE Science BIOLOGY Unit B2.6.1 Aerobic respiration

• a) Know and understand the chemical reactions inside cells are controlled by enzymes.

• b) Know and understand during aerobic respiration (respiration that uses oxygen) chemical reactions occur that:

  • use glucose (a sugar) and oxygen

    • the sugar from digesting carbohydrates and oxygen in via air breathed in, and from the lungs carried round the body by specialised red blood cells,

  • produce useful energy is released to 'power' the cell chemistry.

• c) Know and understand that aerobic respiration takes place continuously in both plants and animals.

• d) Know that most of the reactions in aerobic respiration take place inside mitochondria.

• e) Know that aerobic respiration is summarised by the equation:

  • glucose + oxygen ==> carbon dioxide + water (+ energy)

• f) Know and understand that energy that is released during respiration is used by the organism.

  • Know that the energy may be used in cells:

    • to build larger molecules from smaller ones eg proteins from amino acids,

    • in animals, to enable muscles to contract and relax eg to move limbs and move around,

    • in mammals and birds, to maintain a steady body temperature in colder surroundings, we slowly cease to function if we get to hot or too cold.

    • in plants, to build up from sugars, nitrates and other nutrients, amino acids which are then built up into proteins - animals can't do this, we need to take in protein, break it down and build it up to our required proteins.

• g) Know and understand that during exercise a number of changes take place:

  • the heart rate increases

  • the rate and depth of breathing increases.

• h) Know and understand that these changes increase the blood flow to the muscles and so increase the supply of sugar and oxygen for energy from respiration and also increase the rate of removal of carbon dioxide - the waste product.

• i) Know and understand that muscles store glucose as glycogen, which can then be converted back to glucose for use during exercise.

  • Glycogen is produced, stored and then released for conversion to glucose on a supply and demand basis.

  • If there is surplus glucose and physical activity is low, more glycogen is produced.

  • The more you physically exercise, the greater the glucose demand, if this exceeds what is available in the blood stream, then the glycogen reserves are called upon to fill the energy gap.

AQA GCSE Science BIOLOGY Unit B2.6.2 Anaerobic respiration

• a) Know and understand during exercise, if insufficient oxygen is reaching the muscles they use anaerobic respiration to obtain energy.

• b) Know and understand anaerobic respiration is the incomplete breakdown of glucose and produces lactic acid.

  • glucose ==> lactic acid + energy

  • This is not as efficient in energy release as the complete aerobic respiration of glucose described in the previous section.

• c) HT only: Know and understand that as the breakdown of glucose is incomplete, much less energy is released than during aerobic respiration.

  •  HT only: Know and understand anaerobic respiration results in an oxygen debt that has to be repaid in order to oxidise lactic acid to carbon dioxide and water.

  • The heart, lungs and limb muscles begin struggle to keep up with what you want your body to do, but you can keep your muscles going longer using anaerobic respiration, at least up to a point of real fatigue!

  • However, even when you stop doing a vigorous exercise, you continue to breathe quite deeply to repay this oxygen debt and oxidise the lactic acid to carbon dioxide and water.

• d)  Know and understand that if muscles are subjected to long periods of vigorous activity they become fatigued, ie they stop contracting efficiently.

  • Know that one cause of muscle fatigue is the build-up of lactic acid in the muscles.

  • Know that blood flowing through the muscles removes the lactic acid and oxygen is used up to oxidise it to carbon dioxide and water.

• Your practical work to develop your skills and understanding may have included the following:

  • investigating the rate of respiration in yeast using carbon dioxide sensors and dataloggers,

  • investigating the effect of exercise on pulse rate, either physically or using pulse sensors and dataloggers,

  • investigating the link between exercise and breathing rate with a breathing sensor,

  • investigating holding masses at arm’s length and timing how long it takes the muscles to fatigue,

  • designing an investigation using force meters and dataloggers to find the relationship between the amount of force exerted by a muscle and muscle fatigue.