Lab Bio
A subscription to JoVE is required to view this content.
A subscription to JoVE is required to view this content.
At the end of this lab, students should know...
Ultimately the source of energy for most living organisms is the sun. It is captured for use by the biosphere by photosynthetic organisms.
This process takes biomolecules, such as simple sugars like glucose and converts them into usable chemical energy in the form of ATP. Some forms use oxygen and others do not.
By using a tool called a respirometer.
It measures the amount of oxygen being consumed by an organism. It uses KOH to trap the CO2 produced as the O2 is consumed. It is based on the ideal gas law.
PV = nRT where P is absolute pressure, V is volume, n is the number of moles, R is the gas constant, and T is absolute temperature. The number of molecules of a gas thus can be calculated based on known temperature, volume, and pressure.