Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: AntiKev
[1st law of Thermodynamics]

What happens to the energy of an active, healthy, human being upon death?

54 posted on 12/10/2005 7:55:16 PM PST by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies ]


To: Mind-numbed Robot

Returns back to God.


55 posted on 12/10/2005 8:01:33 PM PST by Baraonda (Demographic is destiny. Don't hire 3rd world illegal aliens nor support businesses that hire them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies ]

To: Mind-numbed Robot
It's not destroyed. That is not possible (by the current form of the physical laws). It's transferred into another form. There are many forms of energy, and I'm sure many that we haven't found yet. But the majority of the energy used in your daily life started as chemical energy. You ate breakfast and it had a certain chemical make up.

By far the most common is sucrose (I think that's the correct name, it's essentially simple sugar) C6H12O6. Your body absorbs the compound and a chemical reaction happens:

C6H12O6 + 6O2 -> 6CO2 + 6H20 + heat energy

You'll note that this is a reversible chemical reaction, where the reverse is photosynthesis:

6CO2 + 6H20 + light energy -> 6O2 + C6H12O6

That energy is what allows you to function. It is stored in many forms inside your body. When you die, by far the majority of energy in your body is stored in your muscles and fat. Now I'm just speaking of chemical energy at this point. So the chemical energy is still there when you die.

When you die, you lose heat. Heat energy is present in huamns as well. Right now you're approximately 98.6*F. When you (quite litterally) and I hate to be morbid about it, but you asked, go to room temperature, there is a large amount of heat energy released to the surroundings (ground, atmosphere).

And I'm not a biologist so I can't tell you about any other forms, but I'm sure someone else could chime in.

56 posted on 12/10/2005 8:09:03 PM PST by AntiKev (We pilots count our time in the air as if all other time is unimportant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson