Aerobic respiration is the release of energy from glucose or another organic substrate in the presence of Oxygen. Strictly speaking aerobic means in air, but it is the Oxygen in the air, which is necessary for aerobic respiration. Anaerobic respiration is in the absence of air.
Here is a molecular model of a glucose molecule. A molecule of glucose contains six atoms of Carbon (shown in blue), twelve atoms of Hydrogen (shown in green), and six atoms of Oxygen (shown in red).
In the book Biology for you, it is said that during vigorous exercise the heart and lungs cannot get enough oxygen to the muscles quick enough. When this happens, your muscles start to an aerobically respire. Glucose is broken down to lactic acid, when there is no oxygen. This causes cramp. We must get rid of the lactic acid because it poisons our muscles.
We carry on breathing faster and deeper after vigorous exercise. The extra oxygen breaks down the lactic acid. This extra oxygen is called oxygen dept; our oxygen dept builds up after we exercise hard. It must be gotten rid of straight away.
Anaerobic respiration is another kind of breathing. An example of an anaerobic respirator is a sprinter. When running, a sprinter holds his/her breath to stop them from slowing down. After the race the sprinter needs 7 litres of oxygen to get rid of the lactic acid inside them.
I also predict that non-smokers will be fitter than smokers because they do not any tar in their lungs making harder for them to breath.
Apparatus:
Stopwatch and Trainers
Fair Test:
To make this a fair test, I will let my pulse rate return to it’s original rate before each attempt to run up and down the stairs.
Method:
- First get together all apparatus
- Start the stopwatch and run for 1 minute.
- Check pulse rate and record it down.
- Relax until pulse rate returns to its original rate.
- Do the above again but change the time/type of exercise.
Result:
Conclusion:
In this experiment I found my pulse rate did increase when I run for 1 minute. It also increased a lot more when I run for 2 minutes. This means that my prediction was correct and that blood and oxygen were being pumped faster around my body.
Evaluation:
I believe that my experiment was successful. I got the result that I was looking for. However, what I would most like to change is the fact that when doing the experiment, I did not make sure that my pulse rate was at its original rate. I just waited until I felt fit enough to continue. I believe that if I had checked the pulse rate to be sure that it was at its original rate the experiment would have been a fair test.
An Investigation to show how Different Exercises
Affect the Pulse Rate
