Question

Help?

Answer 1

This graph shows the relationship between anaerobic respiration, also called fermentation, and temperature. Temperature is charted along the x-axis from negative twenty degrees Celsius to positive sixty degrees Celsius. The y-axis shows amount of fermentation in percentages from zero to one hundred percent.

At negative twenty degrees Celsius, the amount of fermentation is at zero. At positive five degrees, the amount of fermentation has increased to 40, and at fifteen degrees the amount of fermentation is 50. At 25 degrees the amount of fermentation is 85, and at 35 degrees the amount of fermentation peaks at 100. The fermentation amounts decrease steadily from 100 at 35 degrees down to zero at 60 degrees.

Based on the conditions of early Earth, what conclusion can you draw about the amount of anaerobic respiration that was occurring at Earth’s beginning? Explain your answer.

Answer 2

I am guessing that in the beginning of earth the temperature was very hot. Above 60ºC. Which would mean that there was no fermentation at the beginning of Earth.

What do you think?

Answer 3

Hmm yeah, it does depend on what they mean by "Earth's beginning" I mean too hot and their would have been no life to respire, anaerobic or otherwise :P but I'm not sure if you're supposed to be considering this. At the dawn of 'land' I would have thought that the earth would have been that hot..

Wikipedia says for the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (which was the earliest thing I could find):
"temperature increases would have been greatest at the poles, which reached an average annual temperature of 10 to 20 °C (50 to 68 °F); the surface waters of the northernmost[8] Arctic ocean warmed, seasonally at least, enough to support tropical lifeforms requiring surface temperatures of over 22°C"

But that's just the poles so it would have been pretty hot elsewhere.. though I'm not sure if it would have reached 60. Anyway you would be correct in saying that it was hotter than 35deg for parts of Earth so fermentation would be slower.

Answer 4

Im going to retype my answer and repost it so I can get your opinion if thats okay.

Answer 5

Yeah sure :)

Answer 6

The question can be interpreted in 2 ways. It can be interpreted as the beginning of Earth, which means that the rock would be melting, and there would have been no life to respire anaerobic or otherwise. The other way it can be interpreted would be the earliest day that science could prove. In that case we are talking about the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. The Wikipedia article said that "temperature increases would have been greatest at the poles, which reached an average annual temperature of 10 to 20 °C (50 to 68 °F); the surface waters of the northernmost Arctic ocean warmed, seasonally at least, enough to support tropical life forms requiring surface temperatures of over 22°C". I could infer that since Wikipedia is just talking about the poles. In that case the rest of the Earth’s surface would have been cooler.

At 15ºC the rate of fermentation is 50. It continues to rise but at 25ºC the rate of fermentation is 85. The rate of fermentation would increase until about 35ºC and then it would drastically drop.

Answer 7

Hmm I'm not sure if "earliest day that science could prove" is correct, it's more just the best I could find on there internet... perhaps you could say something like "previous higher temperatures".

"In that case the rest of the Earth’s surface would have been cooler." The poles are the coolest part so the rest of the Earth would have been hotter than the 10 to 20 °C"

Are you okay to ref wiki? Otherwise sounds good :)

Answer 8

It says "\[temperature increases would have been greatest at the poles\], which reached an average annual temperature of 10 to 20 °C (50 to 68 °F);

Answer 9

Its a new teacher so im not sure, but its worth a shot, right? I dont want to plagiarize. And as it stands right now im only getting 5.75 hours of sleep... so im taking what i can get lol

Answer 10

ouch! yes best to go to bed, yes internet reference is better than no reference at all

Answer 11

lol, that quote is a good point.. didn't see that. Do keep in mind that while the temperature changes would have been greatest it doesn't necessarily mean they are the hottest.

Answer 12

Thank You So Much For Your Help Tonight/Today (depending on the timezone)!

Answer 13

That's okay, I just hope it was right and I'm not getting you in trouble! afternoon :P

Answer 14

You are helping me a lot. Thank you. What time is it for you? 12:27am for me

Answer 15

No worries, 3:29pm :D