Aerobic vs. Anaerobic Lab

Explore aerobic vs. anaerobic respiration with a fun, hands-on lab!

Procedures You will be opening and closing your hand for twenty seconds 15 times. Predict what you think will happen to your hand muscles and the number of times you can open and close your hand for the duration of this experiment. Hypothesis: Predict what you think your graph will look like after conducting 15 trials of the experiment. Procedures Set a timer for 20 seconds. Forcefully open and close your non-dominant hand as many times as you can during the twenty-second period. Make sure to keep count.Rest your hand for 5 seconds, having a partner record the number you were able to do in the data chart below.Repeat these steps fifteen times. Be sure to record the trials during which you feel the lactic acid building up in your muscles using an asterisk (*). Data Table Trial # Number of Closures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Graph Based on your knowledge of aerobic and anaerobic respiration—and recalling when you felt the most burning sensations—were your muscle cells performing aerobic or anaerobic cellular respiration during the 5th trial? 10th trial? 15th trial? Referring to your graph, what is the overall pattern that you notice in the data (increasing, decreasing, remaining constant, fluctuating)? Referring to your graph and data table, at what point(s) were your muscle cells doing aerobic respiration? How do you know? Referring to your graph and data table, at what point(s) were your muscle cells doing anaerobic respiration? How do you know? After finishing your experiment, the burning sensation left your hand. Why do you think this happens? How do you think your body transports oxygen from your lungs to your cells? Write a two sentence conclusion describing how your experiment illustrated aerobic and anaerobic respiration. Refer to your data if helpful.