Cellular Respiration Lab Report

In this lab, we should expect changes in the rate of cellular respiration based on the available fuel source in the different seeds. We know that aerobic respiration requires oxygen gas and an organic molecule, and produces carbon dioxide, water, and energy. The goal of cellular respiration is to harvest ATP. However, the carbon dioxide can be measured using a gas sensor. Since we know that more reactants generally equals more products, more organic molecules should result in more carbon dioxide, thus, increasing the rate of cellular respiration. We can measure the rate of carbon dioxide production to determine the rate of cellular respiration of each seed type. Depending on the makeup of each seed type, some may use more carbohydrates, proteins, …show more content…
We organized them into three categories: cereals, legumes, and vegetable. Wheat and barley were cereal seeds, tomato and squash were vegetable seeds, and the beans and peas were legumes. We used paper towels, two plastic containers as our reaction chambers, a carbon dioxide sensor, an interface and laptop, a scale, and a weighing tray for this lab. Prior to the lab, I germinated the seeds for five days by wrapping them in moist paper towels and placing them in separate, open Ziploc bags. After organizing the seeds by type, one person massed 13 grams of each of the six seed groups using the weighing tray and scale. This ensured that the mass of the seeds was a constant variable in our experiment. Another person displaced the oxygen in the two plastic containers by completely filling them with water and then emptying them outside. They were sealed outside to trap the fresh air. This ensured that the oxygen levels were appropriate and consistent. At the same time, another person connected the carbon dioxide sensor to the interface and laptop and opened LoggerPro to begin collecting data. We quickly unsealed one plastic reaction chamber and inserted the gas sensor. We calibrated the gas