Research Question
Is the carbon dioxide emission rate per gram (ppm/s/g) of an outer onion (Allium cepa) layer, greater than the carbon dioxide emission rate per gram (ppm/s/g) of an inner layer?
Scientific Context
Cellular respiration is a catabolic pathway that breaks down complex molecules to more simple ones which release stored energy (World of Biology). The process of cellular respiration produces carbon dioxide (CO₂). It is powered by the oxygen that we take in as we breathe and CO₂ is emitted as we breathe out, which means cellular respiration, is essentially the CO₂ emission rate (Veloz). Cellular respiration has a clear relationship with metabolism in humans. “Respiration is the process that gets oxygen from the air to the tissues of the body and removes carbon dioxide from the body. …show more content…
The only safety precaution would be to be careful with the knife as one cuts the onion in half. Since this experiment does not deal with chemicals there is no special disposal required.
RESULTS
Results Description
The mean of the CO₂ emission rate per gram (ppm/s/g) of the outer layer is higher than the mean of CO₂ emission rate per gram of the inner layer. Continuing, the error bars do not overlap, meaning that the statistical mean of cellular respiration, like said before, is greater in the outer layer compared to the inner layer. Furthermore, the CO₂ emission rate per gram of the outer layer, is 67.7% greater, than the one of the inner layer.
In my experiment, I noticed two differences treatments or unusual measurements, in the tenth and the fifth trail. The thing that I did not expect was the respiration chambers with the onion pieces to fog up, however, this happened to each of the