Dear Aspirant,

Aerobic means with oxygen, vs anaerobic which means without oxygen. It’s usually used to describe what type of cellular respiration is occurring. During aerobic respiration, mitochondria use oxygen as the final electron acceptor during the process of breaking down organic carbon, C6H12O6, aka glucose or sugar. In the process of breaking that molecule down and transferring the hydrogens, H, to oxygen, the mitochondria use the energy released in that transfer to renew adenosine triphosphate, ATP. Under idealized situations the final yield is about 16 ATP per oxygen. This is important because ATP is like the dollar currency of the cell, everything that happens uses ATP.

Anaerobic respiration doesn’t use oxygen. The first two steps of aerobic respiration, which breaks down the 6 carbon sugar to two 3 carbon molecules, produces 2 ATP by itself. Anaerobic respiration stops there, with a net gain of two ATP instead of the aerobic net gain of 16 ATP. It also produces waste products like ethanol or lactic acid.

Certain prokaryotes, including some species of bacteria and archaea, use anaerobic respiration. For example, the group of archaea called methanogens reduces carbon dioxide to methane to oxidize NADH. These microorganisms are found in soil and in the digestive tracts of ruminants, such as cows and sheep.

Examples of aerobic exercise include swimming laps, running, or cycling. Anaerobic exercises involve quick bursts of energy and are performed at maximum effort for a short time. Examples include jumping, sprinting, or heavy weight lifting.

Hope this information helps you,

Thank you .