Final answer:
In aerobic cellular respiration, glucose is oxidized to carbon dioxide and oxygen is reduced to water, making 'a. glucose, oxygen' the correct answer.
Step-by-step explanation:
In aerobic cellular respiration, glucose is oxidized to carbon dioxide (CO₂) while oxygen (O₂) is reduced to water (H₂O). Therefore, the correct answer to the student's question is: a. glucose, oxygen. The process of cellular respiration includes a sequence of reactions where the carbons in a carbohydrate molecule lose hydrogens and form carbon dioxide, while oxygen gains hydrogens and forms water.
While glucose is catabolized to harvest energy in the form of ATP, oxygen is the final electron acceptor at the end of the electron transport chain, leading to the formation of water. These reactions are essential for the production of ATP, which is the main energy currency of the cell.