One of the most common misconceptions about cellular respiration is that we inhale oxygen and that this oxygen is converted to carbon dioxide, which we exhale. Explain what happens to the oxygen we inhale during cellular respiration. Then explain where

the carbon dioxide we exhale comes from in cellular respiration.

What will be an ideal response?


The oxygen is used to produce ATP from the food we eat by accepting electrons at the end of the electron transport chain and eventually is converted to water. During aerobic respiration, food molecules are broken down, and carbon dioxide is released at two points–during the transition step between glycolysis and the Krebs cycle and during the Krebs cycle itself.

Biology & Microbiology

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Oxidation and reduction states are relatively easy to determine for metal ions, because there is a measurable net charge. In the case of carbon compounds, oxidation and reduction depend on the nature of polar covalent bonds

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Biology & Microbiology