Cellular Respiration Lab

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Cellular Respiration Lab Introduction In this lab, the primary investigation was to discover which factors affect cellular respiration. In this particular inquiry, the factor tested was the amount of time the lentil seeds were germinated. This study was performed in order to understand the process of cellular respiration as well as be able to measure and observe gas concentration as a result of impacting factors. Cellular respiration is necessary for life-processes, converting glucose and oxygen into ATP, carbon dioxide, and water, in a series of metabolic reactions. This process can be measured in numerous ways, such as observing the amount of heat produced or changes in temperature in general (since cellular respiration is exergonic.) Another technique is measuring gas consumption or emission using a respirometer. The consumption of oxygen and a high carbon dioxide concentration would constitute cellular respiration, since oxygen is a reactant and carbon dioxide is a product. In this particular study, oxygen was measured in three different germination time trials. In order to observe oxygen consumption exclusively, NaOH was utilized to absorb carbon dioxide. An absorbent cotton ball saturated with one molar NaOH was placed on the bottom of each vial, followed by a non-absorbent cotton ball in order to ensure the chemical …show more content…

This is because, if the duration of germination is changed, then the rate of cellular respiration will be affected; and in this case, both variables (germination duration and rate) will increase as time increases. This hypothesis can be expected since a grown seed would probably require more sunlight than one lower in the stage of development. In the case that the hypothesis is rejected, the null hypothesis: if the duration of germination is changed, then the rate of cellular respiration will not be affected, would be

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