Scribd
Upload
2 views

Life Processes notes

Respiration involves the exchange of gases and is crucial for energy generation in living organisms. In humans, a complex respiratory system facilitates the inhalation of oxygen and exhalation of carbon dioxide, with gas exchange occurring in the lungs. Cellular respiration can be aerobic or anaerobic, depending on the presence of oxygen, and is essential for converting food into usable energy.

Uploaded by

gaurxv.ydv
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2 views

Life Processes notes

Respiration involves the exchange of gases and is crucial for energy generation in living organisms. In humans, a complex respiratory system facilitates the inhalation of oxygen and exhalation of carbon dioxide, with gas exchange occurring in the lungs. Cellular respiration can be aerobic or anaerobic, depending on the presence of oxygen, and is essential for converting food into usable energy.

Uploaded by

gaurxv.ydv
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

RESPIRATION

●​ Respiration broadly means the exchange of gases.


●​ Animals and plants have different means of exchange of gases.
●​ At a cellular level, respiration means the burning of food to
generate the energy needed for other life processes.
●​ Cellular respiration may take place in the presence or absence of
oxygen

Respiration in Humans

●​ A well-defined respiratory system helps with breathing and the


exchange of gases.
●​ Breathing involves the inhalation of oxygen and the exhalation of
carbon dioxide.
●​ The gaseous exchange takes place in the lungs, and oxygen is
supplied to all cells of the body.
●​ Cellular respiration takes place in each and every cell.

Respiratory System

●​ The human respiratory system involves the nose, nasal cavities,


pharynx, larynx, trachea/windpipe, bronchi, bronchioles and
alveoli.
●​ Bronchioles and alveoli are enclosed in a pair of lungs.
●​ The rib cage, muscles associated with the rib cage and diaphragm
all help in the inhalation and exhalation of gases.
●​ The exchange of gases takes place between an alveolar surface
and surrounding blood vessels.
●​ Alveoli provide a large surface area for the exchange of gases.
Breathing- inhalation+exhalation (One breath comprises one
inhalation and one exhalation.)

Inhalation :- When the dome-shaped diaphragm contracts and becomes


flattened and the rib cage is expanded due to the action of intercostal
muscles, the volume of the lungs increases, pressure there drops down
and the air from outside rushes in. This is inhalation.

Exhalation:- the diaphragm relaxes and becomes dome-shaped again;


the chest cavity contracts due to the action of intercostal muscles, the
volume inside the lungs decreases, pressure increases and the air is
forced out of the lungs.

Diffusion of gases

●​ Inhaled air increases the concentration of oxygen in the alveoli, so


oxygen simply diffuses into the surrounding blood vessels.
●​ Blood coming from cells has more concentration of carbon dioxide
than outside air, and thus carbon dioxide simply diffuses out of the
blood vessels into the alveoli.

Cellular Respiration

Cellular respiration is set of metabolic reactions occurring inside the cells


to convert biochemical energy obtained from the food into a chemical
compound called adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-- currency of energy

●​ Metabolism refers to a set of chemical reactions carried out to


maintain the living state of the cells in an organism. These can be
divided into two categories:
●​ Catabolism – the process of breaking molecules to obtain energy.
●​ Anabolism – the process of synthesizing all compounds required
by the cells.
●​ Therefore, respiration is a catabolic process which breaks large
molecules into smaller ones, releasing energy to fuel cellular
activities.
●​ Glycolysis, Krebs cycle, and electron transport chain are the
important processes of cellular respiration.
Aerobic Respiration

Aerobic respiration is a process in which the food i.e. glucose is


converted into energy in the presence of oxygen.

●​ The general equation of aerobic respiration as a whole is given


below-

Glucose + oxygen ⇒ Carbon dioxide + Water + Energy

●​ Glucose (6 carbon compound) is converted into Pyruvic acid (3


carbon compound) in cytoplasm. This process is called glycolysis
●​ Then pyruvic acid enterss in mitochondria for oxidation and form
carbon dioxide water and ATP

Respiration in Muscles

●​ Respiration in muscles can be anaerobic when there is not enough


oxygen.
●​ Glucose gets broken down into Pyruvic acid and then in lactic acid
(3 carbon compound) in cytoplasm.
●​ This results in the accumulation of lactic acid that makes the
muscles sore (fatigue)
●​ This type of anaerobic respiration is also known as lactic acid
fermentation.

Respiration in Yeast

●​ In Yeast after glycolysis, Pyruvic acid forms ethanol (2 carbon


compound) and carbon dioxide.
●​ This process is called fermentation.

Respiration in Plants

●​ Unlike animals and humans, plants do not have any specialized


structures for gaseous exchange.
●​ They have stomata (present in leaves) and lenticels (present in
stems), which are involved in the exchange of gases.
●​ Compared to animals, plant roots, stems, and leaves respire at a
very lower rate.

Why Do We Need Lungs?

●​ In unicellular organisms like amoeba exchange of gases takes


place through a general body surface by osmosis.
●​ In lower animals like an earthworm, the gaseous exchange takes
place through their moist skin.
●​ The requirement for oxygen is sufficiently met in these ways.
●​ But as the animal starts becoming more and more complex, for
example, humans, the requirement for oxygen cannot be met
alone by diffusion.
●​ Moreover, diffusion will not be able to supply oxygen to the
deep-seated cells.
●​ This difficulty has led to the evolution of a more complex
mechanism of gaseous exchange, and that is the development of
lungs.
●​ The alveoli present in the lungs provide a large surface area
required for the necessary gas exchange.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy