Home > Harvesting Energy: Glycolysis and Cellular Respiration > Group Activity

Biology: Life on Earth

Chapter 8: Harvesting Energy: Glycolysis and Cellular Respiration

Group Activity

Bo and Luke are competitive body builders who train at the same Florida gym but are bitter enemies. At a workout a week before an upcoming national competition, Bo begins to feel very hot, sweats profusely, then collapses. When the paramedics arrive, they note that Bo is feverish, has a rapid heart beat and a rapid breathing rate, and appears blue around the mouth. On the way to the hospital, Bo goes into a coma; he dies a day later.

During the subsequent investigation, crystals of some substance are discovered on the top of Bo’s water bottle. In addition, the police discover that Luke has an illegal tropical fish business in which he uses cyanide to stun fish that swim near the reefs around the Florida Keys. When they float to the top, he scoops them up in a net. Those fish that recover are sent to aquarium stores throughout the United States.

The police suspect that, to increase his chances of winning the competition, Luke has poisoned Bo with cyanide. Luke maintains that he is innocent and thinks that Bo has accidentally poisoned himself with dinitrophenol, an illegal and highly toxic drug that some body builders take to lose weight. Break up into groups of three or four to determine whether Bo has died of cyanide poisoning or of dinitrophenol poisoning.

HINT 1: Both cyanide and dinitrophenol interfere with the function of mitochondria, but cyanide targets the electron transport chain whereas dinitrophenol targets the functioning of ATP synthase.

HINT 2: Which drug will cause oxygen consumption to increase? Increased oxygen consumption by your cells will result in rapid breathing and a bluish skin color as oxygen is removed from the blood faster than it can be replaced. Decreased oxygen consumption will result in shortness of breath and bright red veins and arteries.



Copyright © 2003 by Prentice Hall, Inc. A Pearson Company Legal Notice