Aerobic Respiration Equation

Have you ever thought why oxygen is important for our body? Or why breathing or respiration is such an important function? It may or not be a matter of concern for others but your presence shows your interest or may be your syllabus must have landed you on this page. Well whatever be the reason, the most important thing is the information we have in our article. All the organisms respire as they need energy. The breakdown of the glucose molecules in the form of energy helps the organism to survive. So, it is very important to know what is aerobic respiration? Let's find out about the aerobic respiration and various steps involved in it.

Aerobic Respiration

The process of breaking down of a glucose molecules to release energy in the presence of oxygen is known as aerobic respiration. On the other hand ,respiration which takes place in the absence of oxygen is known as anaerobic respiration. The energy released in the process is used by the organism for growth, repair, movements, etc. Prokaryotes have their energy generation organ on the cell membrane and in eukaryotes, it is present in the inner membranes of the mitochondrial cell.

Aerobic cellular respiration equation shows the reaction between a glucose molecule and oxygen which results in the formation of carbon-dioxide, water and energy. This energy is in the form of ATP. Following is the aerobic respiration equation in words.

Glucose + Oxygen → Carbon dioxide + Water + Energy

So, the aerobic respiration chemical equation will be

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + Energy (ATP molecules)

But aerobic respiration process is not as easy as it looks. It take three aerobic respiration steps to release energy. Following are the three steps which complete the aerobic respiration process. In the following steps glycolysis process takes place in the cytoplasm of the cell whereas Krebs cycle and electron transport chain process are completed in the mitochondria of the cell.

Glycolysis
First step of aerobic respiration is glycolysis. It can also take place in the absence of oxygen and is present in almost all the living organisms. The chemical reaction in glycolysis can be explained as follows where C₃H₄O₃ is pyruvic acid.

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 2NAD⁺ → 2C₃H₄O₃ + 2NADH + 2ATP

Krebs Cycle
The pyruvic acid formed in the glycolysis enters the Krebs cycle and breaks down to form ATP molecules. It is also known as citric acid cycle. The product formed in the Krebs cycle is acetal CoA which forms citric acid and further takes it to the formation of two molecules of carbon-dioxide. This process takes place only in the presence of oxygen. The process can be explained by the following equation.

Acetyl CoA + 3NAD + FAD + ADP + HPO₄^-2 → 2CO₂ + CoA + 3NADH⁺ + FADH⁺

Electron Transport Chain
This step of aerobic respiration is responsible for the conversion of more ADP molecules into ATP molecules. The proteins present in the mitochondria are involved in oxidative phosphorylation process which breaks the nutrients into energy. The reaction taking place in electron transport chain can be summarized as follows.

2NADH + 2H⁺ + O₂ → 2NAD⁺ + 2H₂O

These were the steps which are involved in the aerobic respiration equation. ATP or the energy released in this process may vary from 36 to 38 ATPs. So, by this you can understand how we are able to sustain as a living being. I hope the information helped you to understand the aerobic respiration, its equation and various step involved in it.