Meaning & History. Derived from the name of the Jordan river in Israel, which is derived from yarad meaning descend or flow down.eaning & History. Derived from the name of the Jordan river in Israel, which is derived from yarad meaning descend or flow down.
First, the glucose is broken down. Scientists refer to this step as glycolysis. Then, the second process, aerobic respiration breaks the remains of the glucose down further. During aerobic respiration, oxygen is reduced, donating an electron to hydrogen to form water. The entire process of cellular respiration oxidizes glucose.
During glycolysis, glucose molecules (six-carbon molecules) are split into two pyruvates (three-carbon molecules) during a sequence of enzyme-controlled reactions. This is the same reaction as occurs in aerobic respiration. Without oxygen, pyruvate is converted to lactic acid in animals or ethanol in plants and yeast. It produces only about 10% of the energy released in the complete oxidation of glucose.