Discussion:
Discussion of various cellular respiration questions
1. CO2 that we respire was originally part of biological molecules that have been oxidized. Explain this observation to someone who has not had any biology.
2. If in an experiment, protons could somehow rapidly be removed from the inner membrane space, how would this affect synthesis by electron transport?
3. If the inner mitochondrial membrane allowed protons to move freely back and forth across it, there would be no ATP synthesis in electron transport. Explain why.
4.Why does electron transport stop if oxygen is not available?
5. Why, in eukaryotic cells, does an NADH from glycolysis result in only 2 ATP but in prokaryotic it results in 3 ATP.
2 ATP difference is due to Eukaryotic glycolysis occurs in cytoplasm but ETC occurs in the mitchondrial matrix. Any NADH produced in glycolysis can only pass its electrons thru the mitchondrial membrane allowing the production of 2 ATP per NADH instead of 3.