Myth: Respiration is Gas Exchange
Fact: Respiration is not just gas exchange, oxygen for carbon dioxide. Oxygen is the one critical part of a larger process and carbon dioxide is simply a by product of the process. Cellular respiration is a complex series of chemical reactions where sugars are broken down to release energy by the use of oxygen
Oversimplifications:
C6H12O6 + 6O2 --> 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy
Drawing a single arrow wrongly implies that cellular respiration occurs in one step. Many small arrows should be used. For instance, this entire process occurs in four stages (glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, Krebs cycle and electron transport chain). Therefore, it would be beneficial to have an equation to represent the products of each stage.
Myth: The process of cellular respiration takes place entirely in the cytoplasm of a cell
Fact: Glycolysis takes place in the cytoplasm, while pyruvate oxidation and the Krebs cycle take place in the mitochondrial matrix. The electron transport chain takes place in the inner mitochondrial membrane
Fact: Respiration is not just gas exchange, oxygen for carbon dioxide. Oxygen is the one critical part of a larger process and carbon dioxide is simply a by product of the process. Cellular respiration is a complex series of chemical reactions where sugars are broken down to release energy by the use of oxygen
Oversimplifications:
C6H12O6 + 6O2 --> 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy
Drawing a single arrow wrongly implies that cellular respiration occurs in one step. Many small arrows should be used. For instance, this entire process occurs in four stages (glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, Krebs cycle and electron transport chain). Therefore, it would be beneficial to have an equation to represent the products of each stage.
Myth: The process of cellular respiration takes place entirely in the cytoplasm of a cell
Fact: Glycolysis takes place in the cytoplasm, while pyruvate oxidation and the Krebs cycle take place in the mitochondrial matrix. The electron transport chain takes place in the inner mitochondrial membrane