Question

What is respiration? Explain the type of respiration.

Answer 1

The food we take is used by cells to provide energy for different activities going on in our body. Different organisms use different pathways – some use oxygen to break down the glucose into carbon dioxide and water while other organisms do not require oxygen to break down the glucose.

Complete answer:
The word respire we always think or relate to the breathing. During breathing, the taking of oxygen in each inhale and releasing of carbon dioxide in each exhale take place. This is important for respiration, but breathing is the physical process while respiration is the chemical process. The respiration is a biochemical process, in which there is a breakdown of C-C bond of complex substance via oxidation and release of a huge amount of energy.
Respiration can be of two types depending upon the presence or absence of oxygen i.e. aerobic respiration and anaerobic respiration.
Aerobic respiration: The respiration that takes place in the presence of oxygen is called aerobic respiration. It is a long multi series of processes that includes glycolysis, citric acid cycle and electron transport system. Approximately about 36 ATP is produced. The first step is glycolysis, where glucose molecules are broken down into pyruvic acid in the cytoplasm. Then these molecules enter into the mitochondria where it can go for a further chemical reaction that citric cycle. The end process is the electron transport system.
Anaerobic respiration: this type of respiration takes place in absence of oxygen. In anaerobic respiration, there is incomplete oxidation of food which results in carbon dioxide and alcohol. It yields less amount of energy due to the incomplete oxidation i.e. partial breakdown of glucose. This process takes place in yeast during fermentation.

Note:
Reaction of aerobic respiration: ${C_6}{H_{12}}{O_6} + 6{O_2} \to 6C{O_2} + 6{H_2}O + ENERGY$
Reaction of anaerobic respiration: $Glu\cos e \to C{O_2} + alcohol + energy$