Max learned that aerobic respiration is a set of metabolic reactions that take place in the presence of oxygen, occurring in a cell to convert chemical energy into ATPs.
• Aerobic respiration takes place in all plants, animals, birds, and humans.
• It is the preferred method of degradation of pyruvate after glycolysis where the pyruvate then enters the mitochondria to be fully oxidized during the Kreb’s cycle.
• The process of aerobic respiration is utilized for the oxidation of carbohydrates, but products from fats and proteins are also used as reactants.
• Carbon dioxide gas and water are the two products of aerobic respiration along with the energy that is used to add a third phosphate group to ADP and form ATP.
• Aerobic respiration results in complete oxidation of carbohydrate molecules which take place in the mitochondria of eukaryotic cells as the enzymes for the process are present there.
Then he learned anaerobic respiration is a process of cellular respiration where the high energy electron acceptor is neither oxygen nor pyruvate derivatives.
• Anaerobic respiration takes place in many environments like freshwater, soil, deep-sea surfaces.
• Anaerobic respiration and fermentation, both take place in the cytoplasm of the prokaryotic cell.
• Anaerobic respiration and fermentation processes take place in the muscle cells during immediate contraction and relaxation.
• Fermentation results in a total gain of only two ATPs per glucose molecule.