Maggot Respiration Lab Report

Aim: To measure the amount of oxygen takes in by the maggots and peas with the help of a respirometer in the experiment.

Introduction:

Respiration is the process by which organic molecules are broken down in a series of stages to synthesize ATP.

Respiratory quotient is a measure of the ratio between oxygen an organism takes in and carbon dioxide the organism eliminates. The use of a device called a respirometer is used to measure an organism’s respiratory quotient by measuring the gases the organism takes in and exhales.

Metabolism is all the chemical processes that take place in living organisms for example breathing, circulating blood and controlling body temperature. Since the peas and maggots used in this experiment are living things, they could affect the result since they both expire aerobically and take part in

This means that maggots have a higher metabolism since they have more chemical process occurring. The maggot’s metabolism is advanced since it moves which would mean a lot of energy is released. . Respiration is the process by which organic molecules are broken down in a series of stages to synthesize ATP.This also means the respiratory quotient is higher for the maggot because it uses more energy and moves a lot compared to the peas. They both respire aerobically since an amount of oxygen was used or consumed during the experiment

Peas have 0.00 distance travelled without compared to maggots, which have 0.50 due to the movement of maggots. The respiratory quotient also shows that peas have a higher RQ compared to maggots. The value obtained for peas show that they consume or respire with carbohydrates and this seems to be the case since they were in sucrose solution. Also maggots showed that the value obtained which is 0.71 that they have fed on food, which was very high in protein.