Exercise 11

The Products of Respiration

Respiration is the breakdown of glucose to simple substances CO 2 , H2O and energy in a form of
ATP. The carbon dioxide will be released into the atmosphere while the ATP will be used by the
plant cells to carry out energy-requiring reactions. The water may be released in a form of
moisture or used by the plant for several metabolic activities.

Objectives:

After the exercise, the students must be able to:

1. Explain the concept that respiration is a kind of oxidation process, hence it is an oxygen-
requiring process.
2. Discuss that respiration is a catabolic process by the type of products obtained in the
set-ups.

Materials:

Release of Carbon dioxide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-dWv4V4VcI

Release of heat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqzqFudrdeI

Procedure:

Observe a virtual laboratory procedure that depicts the release of carbon dioxide and heat as
indications that respiration occur in living organisms.

1. Release of Carbon Dioxide and Water During Respiration.

2. Release of Heat Energy During Respiration.

Temperature Readings (oC)

Live seeds Dead seeds
Initial 0 0
40 min. after n>0 0

Interpret the results and explain:

- Both the live seeds and dead seeds have the same initial temperature. After 40
minutes, there is an increase in temperature in the live seeds (germinated peas),
while there is no increase or decrease in temperature in the dead seeds. Hence, we
can conclude that respiration in live cells of seeds results in the release of heat.
Explain the changes that took place in:

1. Give the reaction involved to obtain the result to release CO2 and energy.
- Cellular respiration is the process, where oxygen and glucose are converted into energy
and carbon dioxide, which is released into the atmosphere.

2. What did you observe in the phenol red with the living seeds? Explain this result.
- The phenol red changes color from red to a yellow color, showing a positive result and
indicating the presence of carbon dioxide. This signifies that the germinated peas were still
capable of performing cellular respiration.

3. How about the phenol red with the dead seeds? Explain this result.
- The phenol red did not change to a yellow color, indicating that there was no carbon dioxide
present. This is because heat destroys the enzymes in peas, preventing them from performing
the respiration process, thus not producing carbon dioxide.

Questions:

1. What are the products of respiration observed in the experiments?

- In the first experiment, the product of respiration is carbon dioxide. It was tested, using
phenol red, the container with the germinated peas turned yellow indicating the presence
of carbon dioxide. In the second experiment, the product of respiration is heat. We can
observe that the flask containing the live seeds, rises in temperature which indicates that
the respiration in the germinated peas (live seeds) results in the release of heat.

2. What is the reason why some of the seeds used in the experiment were boiled seeds?
- This is because boiling denatures the composition of the cells that make up the seeds. Using
boiled seeds acts as the control set up for the experiment as they neither germinate nor
respire.

3. Explain why initially the seeds were soaked in water.

- The seeds were initially soaked in water to allow the seeds to germinate. Germination is
the period of growth after a period of dormancy.