How is cellular respiration like combustion?Both cellular respiration and combustion require a core fuel for the process to happen at all. This fuel is stored energy, and the entire process of combustion or respiration is to convert that energy from its stored state -- in the fuel -- to another state that the engine, either mechanical or bionic, can use to power its other operations.
Combustion creates fire and a rise in temperature. An example of combustion is the burning of gas in an oven. Cellular respiration takes place within living cells including human bodies and is a process that breaks down complex molecules into simpler organisms. Combustion and cellular respiration have similarities with oxygen use, carbon dioxide production, energy release and the breakdown of organic substances.
Oxygen use
Combustion cannot take place without oxygen. It uses oxygen to such an extent that the average amount in the air surrounding a combustion process falls from 21 per cent to 15 per cent. Cellular respiration also uses oxygen but in a slower and more stable manner than combustion. With cellular respiration, oxygen is necessary to enable cells to obtain energy from food. In humans, the act of breathing provides the oxygen required for cellular respiration.
Carbon dioxide production
Fossil fuels such as gas, oil and coal are the product of dead organisms that contain carbon dioxide. When gas, oil and coal burn during combustion, the process releases the carbon dioxide and allows it to enter the atmosphere. Cellular respiration produces carbon dioxide but in a different manner to combustion. The cellular respiration process creates carbon dioxide when the oxygen that it uses reacts with the glucose carbohydrate in a living cell.
Energy release
The process of combustion releases energy in the form of light and heat. For example, the burning of fossil fuels is a combustion process that creates the light and heat energy for domestic and industrial use. Cellular respiration releases energy when oxygen combines with glucose. A human uses the energy to work muscles and to create the enzymes necessary for digesting food. The amount of energy that a body needs varies according to factors such as activity level and pregnancy.
