Summary:
- Oxygen is the final electron acceptor at the end of the electron transport chain of aerobic respiration.
- In the absence of oxygen, only a few ATP are produced from glucose.
- With oxygen, organisms can break down glucose all the way to carbon dioxide.
- This releases enough energy to produce up to 38 ATP molecules.
- Aerobic respiration releases much more energy than anaerobic resppiration.
- It lets your muscles get the energy they need for short bursts of intense activity.
- It may also explain how organisms were able to become multicellular.