have you ever found yourself feeling tired and unable to concentrate in a lesson it's probably happened to all of us even when you might have felt great at the start of the lesson lack of concentration in the classroom is obviously a big problem which can often be mistaken for pupils being uninterested in a lesson or perhaps not getting enough sleep the night before but there could be another reason that you might not be aware of which is all to do with the air we breathe to understand this reason you must first understand the science behind
it energy is a vital part of biology and is needed for all the processes in our bodies for example movement keeping warm and chemical reactions to build larger molecules cellular respiration is the process that takes place continuously in all living cells to produce this energy respiration as this is more commonly referred to is an exothermic reaction this means that it releases energy which can then be used for the processes mentioned there are two types of respiration aerobic and anaerobic the key difference between the two is the presence or absence of oxygen aerobic respiration in cells
takes place when oxygen is present whereas anaerobic respiration occurs when there is no oxygen present both release energy in varying amounts but there are some key pieces of information that you need to be aware of for both types of respiration the sugar glucose is needed when there is a shortage of oxygen anaerobic respiration takes place this happens often during muscle contractions in humans and animals which requires a lot of energy if the body does not have enough oxygen present to do this purely through aerobic respiration for example when someone is sprinting anaerobic respiration takes place
during anaerobic respiration the glucose in our muscles is converted to lactic acid this requires no oxygen but releases energy in the process because of the shortage of oxygen the oxidation of the glucose is incomplete causing us to become tired and out of breath in extreme cases it can even cause cramp from lactic acid buildup it also makes the process less efficient meaning that relatively less energy is created for the same amount of glucose used anaerobic respiration can also occur in plants in yeast cells although this process is slightly different when this happens the glucose becomes
ethanol and carbon dioxide releasing energy as a result this process is known as fermentation which does not require oxygen fermentation is a valuable process for the manufacture of bread and alcoholic drinks in bread the carbon dioxide causes it to rise giving it that fluffy texture that people love the ethanol produced is the alcohol that is used in the drinks now i want you to take a deep breath in and out you may already know that when we inhale we are doing so to take oxygen in from the air and when we exhale we are releasing
carbon dioxide understanding the aerobic respiration process can help us to understand why this is and the importance of the quality of the air that we breathe in aerobic respiration the glucose reacts with oxygen that we inhale to produce carbon dioxide and water this means that we need to get rid of the carbon dioxide that we produce which is what happens when we exhale energy released in this form of respiration generates an exothermic reaction but the presence of the oxygen means that the oxidation of the glucose is complete and lots of energy is released from the
process in addition to the word equation you also need to learn the symbol equation for aerobic respiration the symbol for glucose is c6h12o6 plus o2 for the oxygen which becomes co2 plus h2o when this is balanced this is c6h12o6 plus six o2 which becomes six co2 plus six h2o imagine that you're sat in a full classroom in all living cells respiration takes place continuously this means that you and all the pupils in the classroom are always respiring everyone is going to be breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide as a result of this process
over time and without sufficient ventilation this can cause carbon dioxide levels in the classroom to build up meaning that as we breathe in we are gradually inhaling an increasing proportion of carbon dioxide this can have a profound impact on our cognitive function or mental abilities as our brains require a huge amount of energy in 1904 christian burr found that increasing carbon dioxide levels had a negative impact on brain function while carbon dioxide only makes up a very small proportion of the air small changes in its levels can have a big impact the reason why carbon
dioxide is so problematic is that it affects the acidity of the blood which in turn prevents the blood from carrying the oxygen to the brain that is needed for respiration and releasing the high amounts of energy needed to power the brain and keep concentrating measuring and understanding the levels of carbon dioxide that we are inhaling is therefore important the crucial number is 1 000 parts per million of carbon dioxide as anything above this level will begin to restrict our brain function although this is easy to measure using co2 sensors it is not often done or
known about that's why sav systems are on a mission to improve this giving out sensors to schools to help monitor the co2 levels and improve the chances of staying focused on lessons while knowing about the importance of co2 levels and keeping them low it is also important to know what we can do to keep on top of this product from respiration to reduce carbon dioxide levels in a typical classroom the volume of air in the room might need to be changed up to five times per hour to keep the co2 levels below 1000 parts per
million this rate of change doesn't happen in a lot of classrooms meaning that if you're sat in a stuffy classroom with everyone respiring and giving off carbon dioxide the levels of carbon dioxide can increase quickly making it much harder to concentrate and potentially causing you to drift off but not to fret we have solutions available to us that can control our indoor air quality one solution called mechanical ventilation with heat recovery can ensure that the air is changed regularly this means that carbon dioxide levels can be kept down extracting this stale air and replacing it
with fresh air from the outside the heat recovery aspect means that this can be done without creating drugs like a window might do sav systems airmaster is a great example of this by keeping the carbon dioxide levels down sufficient oxygen can reach your brain to aerobically respire and release the energy needed to concentrate so that you are far less likely to drift off and allowing you to concentrate and learn better for longer so maybe it's time to start measuring the co2 levels in your classroom and seeing the difference that this makes
