32
reactive oxygen species. These byproducts produce free radicals that, over time,
cause irreversible cell damage aging and disease (Valko et al. 2006). All elemental
oxidation is caused by electrons of one element moving and combining with another.
The resulting energy released overtime is responsible for the growth and sustenance,
as well as contributing to the ultimate destruction, of living organisms.
Oxygen in the air we breathe acts as a catalyst to supercharge the breaking of the
phosphate group at the end of the ATP molecule. In addition to producing energy
and water, cellular respiration also produces CO 2 that each cell expels. The body
collects this byproduct in the bloodstream, carries it to the lungs to be exhaled.
Plants directly convert and store solar energy, and photosynthesis drives plant
growth through a similar ATP/ADP cycle as takes place in animals. The O 2 byproducts generated through plant cell respiration are expelled into the air in tremendous
quantities ready to be used again by the animal kingdom in a tightly coupled
exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen (Falkowski and Isozaki 2008).
In addition to the clear benefits an oxygen-rich atmosphere provides, people and
animals also eat oxygen-producing plants to build muscle, regulate electrochemical
balance, and maintain homeostasis. Each day, we convert more than our body
weight of ATP to accomplish all of these essential life functions. In a 75-year life
span, a typical 70 kg (155 lb.) person will generate approximately two million kg
(4.4 million lbs.) of ATP out of ADP and inorganic phosphate (Senior et al. 2002).
The net effect from the flow of electrons is that animals, including humans, are able
to convert energy in the food and water they eat and drink into the energy needed to
maintain minimal bodily functions. Any surplus, beyond what is needed to simply
keep the organism alive, can be channeled into action, outwardly directed into the
surrounding environment. All these activities, from the essential needed to survive
to the surplus available to affect other changes in the larger world, are work in the
broadest sense of the word.
9
Preindustrial societies also assigned greater value to human and natural products
that concentrated energy in the form of human or animal labor. From purely artistic
works, to utilitarian objects and facilities, to agricultural stores of nutritious food,
people appreciated, coveted, and fought over goods containing higher energy concentrations. The advent of new industrial technologies and processes would eventually replace the relatively low and slow energy flows used in animal-powered
processes for millennia. New processes could concentrate unprecedented amounts
of energy made possible by the burgeoning applied sciences.
9 The original Greek word for work – ἔργον (ergon) is added to the word for in – εν (en) to form
the compound ενέργεια (energeia) from which the word energy is derived (Smil 2008).
2 The Energy Essential: Physical Forces Animate All Things
reactive oxygen species. These byproducts produce free radicals that, over time,
cause irreversible cell damage aging and disease (Valko et al. 2006). All elemental
oxidation is caused by electrons of one element moving and combining with another.
The resulting energy released overtime is responsible for the growth and sustenance,
as well as contributing to the ultimate destruction, of living organisms.
Oxygen in the air we breathe acts as a catalyst to supercharge the breaking of the
phosphate group at the end of the ATP molecule. In addition to producing energy
and water, cellular respiration also produces CO 2 that each cell expels. The body
collects this byproduct in the bloodstream, carries it to the lungs to be exhaled.
Plants directly convert and store solar energy, and photosynthesis drives plant
growth through a similar ATP/ADP cycle as takes place in animals. The O 2 byproducts generated through plant cell respiration are expelled into the air in tremendous
quantities ready to be used again by the animal kingdom in a tightly coupled
exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen (Falkowski and Isozaki 2008).
In addition to the clear benefits an oxygen-rich atmosphere provides, people and
animals also eat oxygen-producing plants to build muscle, regulate electrochemical
balance, and maintain homeostasis. Each day, we convert more than our body
weight of ATP to accomplish all of these essential life functions. In a 75-year life
span, a typical 70 kg (155 lb.) person will generate approximately two million kg
(4.4 million lbs.) of ATP out of ADP and inorganic phosphate (Senior et al. 2002).
The net effect from the flow of electrons is that animals, including humans, are able
to convert energy in the food and water they eat and drink into the energy needed to
maintain minimal bodily functions. Any surplus, beyond what is needed to simply
keep the organism alive, can be channeled into action, outwardly directed into the
surrounding environment. All these activities, from the essential needed to survive
to the surplus available to affect other changes in the larger world, are work in the
broadest sense of the word.
9
Preindustrial societies also assigned greater value to human and natural products
that concentrated energy in the form of human or animal labor. From purely artistic
works, to utilitarian objects and facilities, to agricultural stores of nutritious food,
people appreciated, coveted, and fought over goods containing higher energy concentrations. The advent of new industrial technologies and processes would eventually replace the relatively low and slow energy flows used in animal-powered
processes for millennia. New processes could concentrate unprecedented amounts
of energy made possible by the burgeoning applied sciences.
9 The original Greek word for work – ἔργον (ergon) is added to the word for in – εν (en) to form
the compound ενέργεια (energeia) from which the word energy is derived (Smil 2008).
2 The Energy Essential: Physical Forces Animate All Things