is respiration an oxidation or reduction
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Answer:
respiration an oxidation
Answer:
During aerobic respiration, the oxygen taken in by a cell combines with glucose to produce energy in the form of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and the cell expels carbon dioxide and water. This is an oxidation reaction in which glucose is oxidized and oxygen is reduced. This process is critical to all eukaryotes, which are large cells that contain a nucleus and other organelles and which form complex organisms, such as human beings. Respiration in most prokaryotes, such as certain bacteria, is anaerobic. It involves oxidation/reduction reactions that produce energy without oxygen.
Oxidation and Reduction Defined
Oxidation and reduction are words that refer to the way electrons are exchanged in a chemical reaction. When chemists first described oxidation/reduction reactions, they used the term "oxidation" to refer only to reactions in which other chemicals were bonded to oxygen. They referred to reactions which converted a chemical back to a pure form, such as one that removed the oxygen from magnesium and left only magnesium, as reduction reactions. As scientists discovered more about the underlying mechanisms, however, it became clear that in oxidation, an element was losing one or more electrons to oxygen, and in reduction, an element was gaining electrons.
The Importance of Cellular Respiration
The ATP produced in cellular respiration is a chemical fuel that powers every reaction in the cell, either directly or indirectly. Respiration happens in every cell in the human body, as well as the cells of almost every eukaryote. The fact that our cells depend on this reaction is the reason that humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.