Human Homeostasis - Energy

Energy

Energy balance is the homeostasis of energy in living systems. It is measured with the following equation:
Energy intake = internal heat produced + external work + storage.

When calculating energy balances in the body, energy is often measured in calories, with the definitions of a calorie falling into two classes:

  • The small calorie or gram calorie (symbol: cal) approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 °C. This is about 4.2 joules.
  • The large calorie, kilogram calorie, dietary calorie or food calorie (symbol: Cal) approximates the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 °C. This is exactly 1,000 small calories or about 4.2 kilojoules.

Read more about this topic:  Human Homeostasis

Famous quotes containing the word energy:

    Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men’s belief that they “own” their bodies—those vast and perilous estates, pulsating with the energy that made the worlds, in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of Another!
    —C.S. (Clive Staples)

    There are no accidents, only nature throwing her weight around. Even the bomb merely releases energy that nature has put there. Nuclear war would be just a spark in the grandeur of space. Nor can radiation “alter” nature: she will absorb it all. After the bomb, nature will pick up the cards we have spilled, shuffle them, and begin her game again.
    Camille Paglia (b. 1947)

    I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever.
    Mao Zedong (1893–1976)