How many carbon atoms do these molecules important in respiration have: Glucose, Pyruvate and Acetate

You can work this out if you know the stages of respiration.The first stage occurs in the cytosol and is called glycolysis. It is the breaking down of glucose into two molecules of pyruvate with production of ATP and NADH. Since no CO₂ is produced, the number of total carbon atoms must remain constant. You should know that glucose has 6 carbon atoms from the formula C₆H₁₂O₆. Since two molecules of pyruvate are produced, they must each have 6/2 = 3 carbon atoms.One molecule of pyruvate is then converted into one molecule of acetate but the difference here is that CO₂ is also produced as a by-product. Therefore, each acetate molecule must have one fewer carbon atom than pyruvate so acetate has 2 carbon atoms.So the answer in order is: 6, 3, 2