🎈 Did you know? Just like you sometimes can't choose between pizza and ice cream, haemoglobin faces choices too! It can't always cling to oxygen, especially when our muscles are hard at work. This is all thanks to our friend - the Bohr shift!
When you're sprinting or doing that intense dance-off, your muscles work extra hard. They breathe in a lot (aerobic respiration), releasing more CO2 into your blood. Here's the kicker: More CO2 means haemoglobin doesn't hold onto oxygen as tightly. Why? Two cool reasons!
🍋 Real World Example: It's like adding a squeeze of lemon to water. The water gets a tangy taste (acidic). Now imagine this happening inside us! In our lungs, the pH is around 7.4 (neutral, like plain water), but in hard-working muscles, it's around 7.2 (a bit more acidic, like that lemon water). This difference makes it easier for oxygen to bind with haemoglobin in the lungs and let go in active muscles.
Dive deeper and gain exclusive access to premium files of Biology HL. Subscribe now and get closer to that 45 🌟
🎈 Did you know? Just like you sometimes can't choose between pizza and ice cream, haemoglobin faces choices too! It can't always cling to oxygen, especially when our muscles are hard at work. This is all thanks to our friend - the Bohr shift!
When you're sprinting or doing that intense dance-off, your muscles work extra hard. They breathe in a lot (aerobic respiration), releasing more CO2 into your blood. Here's the kicker: More CO2 means haemoglobin doesn't hold onto oxygen as tightly. Why? Two cool reasons!
🍋 Real World Example: It's like adding a squeeze of lemon to water. The water gets a tangy taste (acidic). Now imagine this happening inside us! In our lungs, the pH is around 7.4 (neutral, like plain water), but in hard-working muscles, it's around 7.2 (a bit more acidic, like that lemon water). This difference makes it easier for oxygen to bind with haemoglobin in the lungs and let go in active muscles.
Dive deeper and gain exclusive access to premium files of Biology HL. Subscribe now and get closer to that 45 🌟