What Is the Cellular Respiration Equation?

Cellular Respiration Equation

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Cellular respiration is the chemical reaction in which glucose and oxygen are turned into water, carbon dioxide, and energy (ATP). Following is the balanced Cellular respiration Equation.

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

The word equation for cellular respiration is:

Glucose (sugar) + Oxygen → Carbon dioxide + Water + Energy (as ATP)

Cellular respiration is the process of breaking sugar into a form that the cell can use as energy. This happens in all forms of life. Cellular respiration takes in food and uses it to create ATP, a chemical which the cell uses for energy.

Usually, this process uses oxygen and is called aerobic respiration. It has four stages known as glycolysis, Link reaction, the Krebs cycle, and the electron transport chain. This produces ATP which supplies the energy that cells need to do work.

When they don't get enough oxygen, the cells use anaerobic respiration, which doesn’t require oxygen. However, this process produces lactic acid and is not as efficient as when oxygen is used.

Aerobic respiration, the process that does use oxygen, produces much more energy and doesn’t produce lactic acid. It also produces carbon dioxide as a waste product, which then enters the circulatory system. The carbon dioxide is taken to the lungs, where it is exchanged for oxygen.

Aerobic respiration requires oxygen (O₂) in order to create ATP. Although carbohydrates, fats, and proteins are consumed as reactants, it is the preferred method of pyruvate breakdown in glycolysis and requires that pyruvate enter the mitochondria in order to be fully oxidized by the Krebs cycle. The products of this process are carbon dioxide and water, but the energy transferred is used to break bonds in ADP as the third phosphate group is added to form ATP (adenosine triphosphate), by substrate-level phosphorylation, NADH and FADH₂

What is the formula for cell respiration?

Cellular respiration is the chemical reaction in which glucose and oxygen are turned into water, carbon dioxide, and energy (ATP). In this reaction, glucose and oxygen are reactants, while water, carbon dioxide, and energy (ATP) are products.

The unbalanced chemical equation for cellular respiration is:

${\text{C}}_6{\text{H}}_{12}{\text{O}}_6+{\text{O}}_2\to {\text{CO}}_2+{\text{H}}_2\text{O}+\text{energy}$

The balanced equation of Cellular Respiration is

${\text{C}}_6{\text{H}}_{12}{\text{O}}_6+{\text{6O}}_2\to {\text{6CO}}_2+{\text{6H}}_2\text{O}+\text{energy}$

Cellular Respiration Reactants

• Oxygen and glucose are both reactants in the process of cellular respiration.
• The main product of cellular respiration is ATP; waste products include carbon dioxide and water.