What is a Cellular Respiration Virtual Lab?

Cellular respiration is a process of metabolic reactions which take place within the cell. Under this process, oxygen forms a chemical bond with food molecules and which results in the breakdown of glucose to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is used by the body to perform life-sustaining activities and discard waste products. This pretty much looks like a process that would happen in the real world, right? Then what is cellular respiration virtual lab? What is the purpose of cellular respiration lab? How can one even demonstrate cellular respiration in a lab? Let’s find out in this article.

1. What is the Cellular Respiration Equation?

Does a cellular respiration equation exist? If yes, then what is it and how do we find it? We know that trees release oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis and that oxygen is used by the body to conduct cellular respiration. So, it is not much of a surprise that the two processes are connected because this relationship enables survival. And hence both their equations are somewhat the same. The product of one process is the reactants of the other. 

Photosynthesis- 6CO₂ + 6H₂O → C₆H₁₂O₆+ 6O₂

Cellular respiration- C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O

2. What are Some Real-Life Examples of Cellular Respiration?

We have understood the procedure of cellular respiration. From the definition one can easily make out that cellular respiration is not just done for human beings, it can be done in the cells of animals, plants, algae, and other protists as well. For example, roll your head around, play sports, go for a walk, etc. Cellular respiration happens every second because a person can stay alive and roam about doing physical activities. (See What are Biological Needs?)

3. How do you Demonstrate Cellular Respiration?

It is not that difficult to observe and demonstrate cellular respiration in humans. So here let’s see how can you demonstrate cellular respiration in plants. Plants undergo photosynthesis under which carbon dioxide is converted into oxygen. Get a potted plant and wrap its leaves with plastic wrap. Expose the wrapped plant to sunlight and after a few hours, you will notice moisture on the plastic. Well, you just noticed cellular respiration in plants. Now, remove the plastic and let your plant breathe again. (See Why are The Cells Generally of a Small Size?)

4. What is a Cellular Respiration Virtual Lab?

A virtual lab is an interactive digital showcase of activities that usually happen in physical laboratories. It’s a modern-day advanced technology where learners use an on-screen simulator or calculator to perform a series of experiments. A cellular respiration virtual lab is a depiction of the respiration process by gathering data using simulations, and observing and monitoring the respiration process in a better way. (See What are the three parts of Cell Theory?)

5. What is the Purpose of a Cellular Respiration Lab?

Determining the purpose of a cellular respiration lab is not such a tricky thing. The purpose of the cellular respiration virtual lab depends on what are you experimenting upon. But the basic idea is to identify how a certain activity affects the rate of cellular respiration. For example- in humans, exercise or increased muscle activity affects the rate of cellular respiration; or; measuring oxygen consumption during seed germination as evidence of the rate of cellular respiration. (See Plants Store Food in the Form of?)

6. How do you Take Photos of Cellular Respiration?

While performing the process live, pictures can be taken but it is not very effective as one cannot identify the process just through photos. But snippets of various stages can be taken to give someone a gist and make them understand the procedure. So, you can take some before-after snaps or some relevant shots of in-between procedures which you think are valuable to make a person understand cellular respiration in a better way. (See What does the Word Queue describe in Cell Biology?)

7. How does Exercise Affect Cellular Respiration Lab?

As you are aware of the cellular respiration virtual lab, note that exercising increases cellular respiration which is good for the cardiovascular and respiratory functions of the body. Exercise affects the gas exchange in the body. While working out body consumes more oxygen which means more carbon dioxide is released because the metabolic rate is raised. (See How can Exercise Positively affect your Environmental Health?)

8. Why does Exercise Increase Cellular Respiration?

As and how your intensity of exercise increases, cellular respiration also goes high. While exercising, your body muscles are creating energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This improves heart and respiratory health because the heart rate increases to supply muscles with oxygen. The gas exchange process intensifies, the supply of oxygen is increased and the removal of carbon dioxide takes place. This is the reason why intense exercise increases cellular respiration. (Also read Busted! 27 Myths About Fitness Exercises and Workouts)

9. What Factors Affect Cellular Respiration Lab?

While making notes for the cellular respiration virtual lab, consider that the main reactants of the cellular respiration process are glucose and oxygen. If either of the reactants is missing, the reaction won’t proceed. Some other factors affecting are temperature, light, water content, and carbon dioxide. There are many more factors that affect the cellular respiration procedure, listed here are the ones which are inescapable. (See Where are Ribosomes in a Plant Cell?)

10. What are the 4 Steps of Cellular Respiration?

Let’s go step by step and see how glucose is converted into carbon dioxide and energy is collected as ATP.

• Glycolysis– This is the first step where glucose undergoes a series of transformations and gets converted to pyruvate. This is the reaction where ATP is made.
• Pyruvate oxidation- As the name suggests, from the previous step, the pyruvates go into the innermost compartment of mitochondria and get converted into a two-carbon molecule called acetyl. In this whole process, it releases carbon dioxide.
• Citric acid cycle- The acetyl made in the last step combines with a four-carbon molecule and regenerates it resulting in carbon dioxide being released.
• Oxidative phosphorylation- Other energy molecules formed with ATP in the first step deposit their electrons and at the end of the electron transport chain, oxygen accepts electrons and takes up protons to form water.

11. How your Body Performs Cellular Respiration and how it Relates to Playing in Gym Class?

Cellular respiration involves your cells making energy by using oxygen and breaking down glucose to form ATP. It relates to playing in gym class because while playing, the muscles in the body continuously contract, and your breathing increases which result in the use of more oxygen and gives out more carbon dioxide which gives you the energy to function in the gym.

With this article, some things that are perfectly clear are that one- cellular respiration is a never-ending process and two- it is an important process for humans to sustain. We hope this article gave you valuable insights into what exactly cellular respiration virtual lab is and some examples to understand better. Must see What are swinging hands exercise benefits?