Scientific Report Name: Joh Sturdy
Title: To investigate the effect of exercise on breathing.
Aim: The aim of this experiment is to find out the effect of exercise on the respiratory system
Introduction:
During exercise, our muscle cells respire more than when we are resting. Exercise is carried out by increasing the respiration rate and the heart rate. (BBC Bitesize 2014) Exercise occurs when the muscles contract and relax which create movement.
Energy for cells is created in the mitochondria of every cell, through the process of cellular respiration
(Glucose + Oxygen —–> Carbon Dioxide + Water + ENERGY). The Mitochondria is known as the "powerhouse" of all cells and they act like a digestive system for the cell because it breaks down the nutrients from foods and turns is into energy. Muscle cells need a lot more mitochondria than other cells because they need a lot of energy to work. (Andrew Rader Studios 1997-2015)
When we breathe we take in oxygen which is needed in cellular respiration. When the oxygen enters the body, it travels down the trachea, more commonly known as the wind pipe, and then into the right and left bronchi. Then from the bronchi, the oxygen travels into the lungs and is distributed into the many tree branch like pipes called bronchiole. The oxygen is then taken into the alveoli where the oxygen is distributed into the red blood cells. These red blood cells take the oxygen to the muscles for cellular respiration. This entire process is done almost instantaneously. (Sharecare Inc. 2010-2015)
Throughout exercise, the body demands more oxygen because the muscles are doing more work and respiring more which needs oxygen. To help this, the heart pumps faster, distributing oxygen around the body quicker, which also requires the body to breathe more to take in more oxygen to pump around to the muscles. This is why you will feel your heart rate and breathing rate increase while you exercise. (HowStuffWorks 1998-2015)
Anaerobic respiration is the cause of oxygen debt. Oxygen debt is when not enough oxygen is reaching the muscles and the glucose is not completely broken down. The waste product of this is lactic acid rather than carbon dioxide and water. The buildup of this lactic acid can cause muscle fatigue and can create stitches and cramps because the body cannot efficiently remove this toxic acid during exercise. (BBC Bitesize 2014)
After exercise, the body needs time for our respiration rate to decrease back to normal because the body needs time to get rid of the built up lactic acid. The increased respiration rate helps remove this acid quicker and once all the lactic acid has been removed, the heart and respiration rate will return back to normal.
Hypothesis:
1. As the duration of physical exercise increases the respiration
rate (breathing rate) will increase.
2. As the time after physical exercise increases the respiration
rate will decrease.
Variables:
Independent Variable Star jumps for 3 minutes
Dependent Variable Respiration Rate
Control Variables: Person exercising, speed, clothing, time of rest, type of exercise.
Identify what is a fair test?
A fair test is a test where only one thing changes and all the other control variables stay the same.
Risk assessment:
Some risks for this experiment could include, Injury during the exercise which can be prevented by performing on a flat grass surface. Over exercising which can be prevented by only doing the amount that is known is not too much for the subject
Materials: (List of all the materials used by the experimental group.)
• Stopwatch • Joggers
• Paper •
Method:
STEP ONE. The respiration rate was measured at a resting rate. (RR)
STEP TWO. The subject did star jumps at medium speed for 3 minutes.
STEP THREE. The subject sat down and the respiration rate was measured straight after the exercise.
STEP FOUR. The respiration was measured at 1 minute intervals for 15 seconds and then multiplied by 4 to make the RR BPM.
STEP FIVE. This process was performed 3 times, one after another.
Results:
Table 1: Respiration Rate (RR) data before & after exercise
BPM: Breathes Per Minute
Trial Resting RR
(BPM) RR after exercise.
(BPM) RR after 1 min
(BPM) RR after 2 min
(BPM) RR after 3 min
(BPM) RR after 4 min
(BPM) RR after 5 min
(BPM)
1 20 48 40 36 28 24 16
2 20 36 36 32 28 24 20
3 20 40 32 40 28 24 20
Averages
20 41 36 36 28 24 19
Analysis and Discussion:
Graph one: Respiration rate before and after exercise (this will be a bar graph).
Graph 2: Respiration rate over time following exercise (this will be a line graph).
Figure 1 is a graph showing the difference between Respiration Rate while resting and immediately after exercise. This graph agrees with our first hypothesis because the respiration rate did increase from 20 BPM to 41 BPM, an increase of 21 BPM which is more than double the resting rate. This is shown in the graph Figure 1: The effect of exercise on RR. This occurs because during exercise the muscles need more oxygen, which cause the heart to pump faster and the breathing rate to increase to reach the right amount of oxygen needed for the muscles to work.
Figure 2 is a graph showing the amount of Breaths per minute were recorded on average at 1 minute intervals. The second graph supports our second hypothesis because except for 1 increase at 2 minutes, the Respiration rate did decrease by around 5 BPM every minute. This is shown in the second graph, Figure 2: the effect of time on RR after Exercise. This occurs because when the body is exercising at the top rate, the heart is not able to pump enough blood around to the muscles to get the oxygen for aerobic respiration, so the muscles resort to anaerobic respiration which still creates energy but very little and also creates a waste product called lactic acid, which needs at least 5 minutes to remove the built up toxic acid.
If the heart rate could be measured during and after exercise, It is predict that the same type of pattern would occur, because during exercise the heart needs to pump around more blood to get more oxygen to the muscles so we would start with the average heart rate for children 11-17 being 80BPM and if my calculations are correct, the heart rate increasing to 160BPM after exercise. The body would then take around 5 minutes to return back to normal because it needs to remove all the lactic acid build up before going back to normal.
Conclusion:
The aim of this experiment was to find out the effect of exercise on the respiratory system and to find out how the body’s respiratory system works. The data that was collected from this experiment agrees with the original hypotheses’ made and was proven true by the research found about this topic. It is also concluded that the rate at which the subject recovers is directly proportional to how physically fit the subject is.
Improvements
Some improvements that could be made to the experiment as a whole are, the respiration rate could be measured electronically to make it more accurate, the Respiration rate could be measured for more than 15 seconds at a time, the exercise could have been more even to the respiration rate more accurate and the tests could be more spread out so that the subject was not still tired from the last test.
Bibliography:
1. "Mitochondria – Turning on the Powerhouse." Biology4Kids.com: Cell Structure: Mitochondria. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
http://www.biology4kids.com/files/cell_mito.html
2. "Fitness and Respiration." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.\
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/ocr_gateway_pre_2011/ourselves/0_fit_for_life2.shtml
3. "How Are Muscles Supplied with Oxygen during Exercise? – Types Of Exercise." Sharecare. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
https://www.sharecare.com/health/types-exercise/muscles-supplied-oxygen-during-exercise
4. "How Exercise Works." HowStuffWorks. N.p., 06 Mar. 2008. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/exercise/sports-physiology1.htm
5. "What Is a Normal Resting Heart Rate for Children?" LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 28 Oct. 2015.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/102102-normal-resting-heart-rate-children/
Declaration of Ownership:
I Joh Sturdy declare this assignment is my own work and has not been plagiarised from any sources.
Signature: Date: 29/10/2015
...(download the rest of the essay above)