Rate of Respiration

What is Rate of Respiration?

The rate of respiration is how much respiration occurs per unit time. In the yeast investigation it is measured as the volume of carbon dioxide produced divided by the time taken, giving units such as cubic centimetres per minute. Carbon dioxide is used because it is a gas produced by yeast in anaerobic respiration, so it can be collected in a gas syringe and its volume measured quantitatively; foam height and bubble counts are weaker measures because bubbles differ in volume and foam is not a measure of gas volume.

This definition is part of the Respiration chapter in Cambridge O Level Biology.

Concepts related to Rate of Respiration

• gas syringe
• Fermentation
• enzymes