How Does Respiration Differ From Breathing?
- There is a difference between respiration and breathing. People may be confused considering the word "respiration" originates from Latin roots and means "to breathe." The two also get confused because oxygen is usually necessary for respiration, and animals get oxygen by breathing.
- Respiration occurs at a cellular level by almost every living organism. For organisms such as viruses, which are not made up of cells, this process cannot occur. Energy is required for the survival of these organisms, which is produced through the process of respiration. Respiration is simply the breakdown of food sources to usable energy for the functioning of cells and thus the whole organism. This is a complex process that ends with a chemical referred to as ATP being created. ATP is the source of energy for cells. This complex process also requires oxygen as a component before the final product of ATP is created.
- Respiration is a necessary process in cell-based organisms. This process occurs not only in humans and animals but also in plants. The energy that is created from the chemical changes through respiration helps these living things to function. Plants would not be able to move, grow and change without this process. Without respiration, humans would not be able to do their daily activities, or even breathe for that matter. All of these functions as well as many others require the energy produced through respiration.
- Breathing is also a necessary function to keep animals and humans alive. Not all animals breathe like humans do, though. Humans and other vertebrate animals that live on land breathe using lungs. Other animals have alternative methods of breathing. A fish, for example, breathes using gills. A frog has lungs for when on land and while in the water breathes through its skin.
- Breathing allows animals and humans to take in oxygen. Oxygen is one of a complex array of requirements for the process of changing food that is eaten to ATP. It could be argued that without respiration to produce energy, breathing could not happen. It could also be said that without the oxygen from breathing, the process of respiration could not occur either. Both are required for each to occur, at least in those organisms that have to breathe.