With and without oxygen: respiration and fermentation
Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.
“model, not to scale” A chemical blocks the step that turns NADH into NAD+ in a muscle cell without oxygen. Ren predicts what happens to glycolysis and its ATP, and why.
- Glycolysis slows to a stop and ATP from glucose stops, because NAD+ is not replaced
- Glycolysis continues, because glycolysis takes the oxygen it needs from the muscle cell
- Glycolysis continues unchanged, because just the mitochondrion is affected
- Glycolysis continues at 2 ATP per glucose, because built-up NADH acts as fuel
Read this first
Use this
Two cards. Mud core card (model data, 4 rows). Columns: depth (cm), oxygen (mg/L). 0, 6. 1, 2. 3, 0. 8, 0. Final electron acceptor card (sourced facts, 4 rows). Columns: final electron acceptor, becomes. Oxygen, water. Sulfate, hydrogen sulfide gas. Iron (ferric), iron (ferrous). Carbon dioxide, methane.
Zee's class reads two cards about wetland mud. Microbes at 8 cm make ATP with an electron transport chain. Which statement fits both cards?
- Oxygen reads 0, so those microbes ferment, which is the same as ending a chain with sulfate
- Oxygen reads 0, so those microbes make no ATP and release nothing
- Oxygen reads 0, so a chain there must end with another acceptor, such as sulfate
- Oxygen reads 6, so those microbes end the chain with oxygen and make water
Use the table
Two cards. Carbon card (model), drawn in a yeast cell. Input box on the left: 1 glucose (6 carbons). Stage 1, glycolysis: 2 pyruvate (3 carbons each). Stage 2, fermentation: each pyruvate loses 1 carbon as CO2. ATP card (sourced values)
path ATP in total per 1 glucose Fermentation 2 Ari's class models yeast fermenting 6 glucose in dough. Using both cards, how many CO2 are released and how many ATP are made in total?
- 12 CO2 and 180 ATP
- 12 CO2 and 12 ATP
- 6 CO2 and 12 ATP
- 12 CO2 and 0 ATP
Use this
Two cards. ATP card (sourced values, 1 row). Columns: path, ATP in total per 1 glucose. Fermentation, 2. NAD+ card (sourced facts, 1 row). Columns: stage, NAD+ regenerated per 1 glucose. Fermentation, 2.
A model muscle sample made 50 ATP in total by fermentation alone. Bo uses both cards to find how many glucose were used and how many NAD+ were regenerated.
- 25 glucose and 50 NAD+
- 25 glucose and 25 NAD+
- About 2 glucose and 4 NAD+
- 25 glucose and 0 NAD+
Notebook lines (model data)
line notebook says 1 Glycolysis nets 2 ATP per glucose and does not use oxygen 2 Fermentation turns NADH back into NAD+ so glycolysis can go on 3 Lactic acid fermentation in muscle runs in the mitochondrion with oxygen 4 Aerobic respiration makes about 30 ATP per glucose Esme's notebook lists four lines about glucose breakdown. One line has a flaw. Which line has the flaw?
- Line 3: lactic acid fermentation runs in the cytoplasm and uses no oxygen
- Line 1: glycolysis nets 4 ATP per glucose, not 2
- Line 2: fermentation uses up NAD+ rather than regenerating it
- Line 4: aerobic respiration makes fewer ATP per glucose than fermentation does
Use this
Notebook lines (model data, 4 rows). Columns: line, notebook says. 1, Yeast cells in bread dough ferment sugar and release CO2 gas. 2, Bacteria in yogurt ferment milk sugar into lactic acid. 3, Muscle cells cannot ferment, so only yeast cells use fermentation. 4, Some microbes in wetland mud use sulfate instead of oxygen.
Jun's notebook lists four lines about microbes and cells. One line has a flaw. Which line has the flaw?
- Line 2: yogurt bacteria need oxygen to ferment the milk sugar
- Line 3: muscle cells and some bacteria also ferment, so yeast are not the only ones
- Line 1: yeast fermentation makes lactic acid, not a gas
- Line 4: microbes in mud make no ATP because they lack oxygen
Kira's class concludes that sugar makes yeast release gas. Read about only. Kira's class reads about the dough test and concludes that sugar makes yeast release gas. What is the flaw in the test?
- Cup B needed oxygen added, since fermentation cannot run without it
- Sugar and temperature both differ, so sugar cannot be named as the cause
- Cup B should have had more yeast than Cup A to be fair
- Height is the wrong measure, since ATP counts are what show fermentation
ATP card (sourced values)
path ATP in total per 1 glucose Aerobic respiration about 30 Fermentation 2 Luz's classmate says sprinting muscle cells switch to fermentation because it makes more ATP than aerobic respiration. Do you agree?
- Agree: fermentation nets about 30 ATP per glucose, so it is the better choice
- Disagree: fermentation makes about 2 ATP per glucose against about 30, but it keeps glycolysis going when oxygen is short
- Disagree: without oxygen, muscle cells make no ATP
- Disagree: muscle cells do not ferment; yeast cells do
Final electron acceptor card (sourced facts)
final electron acceptor becomes Oxygen water Sulfate hydrogen sulfide gas Iron (ferric) iron (ferrous) Carbon dioxide methane Milo's classmate says glycolysis cannot continue without oxygen, so microbes in oxygen-free mud make no ATP. Do you agree?
- Agree: glycolysis uses oxygen directly, so it stops in mud
- Disagree: fermentation needs oxygen, which the mud supplies
- Disagree: NADH built up in the cell supplies the ATP
- Disagree: regenerating NAD+ lets glycolysis continue, and some microbes end a chain with sulfate or iron
Noah's classmate says mud microbes that end an electron transport chain with sulfate are fermenting. Do you agree?
- Disagree: they use the oxygen in sulfate for aerobic respiration
- Agree: any process that runs without oxygen is fermentation
- Disagree: they run an electron transport chain ending with sulfate, which is anaerobic respiration
- Disagree: sulfate users make no ATP, so neither process applies