Lecture (1)

Metabolism: Energy, Heat, Work, and Power of the Body

Content
A. Conservation of Energy and Heat Flow
B. Energy Content of Body Fuel
B.1. Glucose
B.2. Palmitic Acid
C. Energy Storage Molecules
C.1. How ATP is Produced and Used as an Energy Source
D. Loss of Body Heat
D.1. Modes of Heat Loss
1. Heat Loss by Radiation
2. Heat Loss by Convection
3. Heat Loss by Conduction
4. Heat Loss by Evaporation of Water: Sweating and Breathing
Metabolism
is any energy usage by the body, and is the sum of all chemical processes performed by the cells in order to keep
the body alive.
For a complete picture we need to include input of food and oxygen to the body, energy storage, and loss of energy by the body
through the loss of heat and work done by the body.

In catabolic reactions complex molecules are broken into simple ones, for purposes such as energy usage.
In anabolic reactions simple molecules are combined to form complex ones, for purposes such as energy storage.
The body uses food to
(1) operate organs,
(2) maintain a constant temperature by using some of the heat that is generated by operating the organs (while
the rest is rejected),
(3) do external work, and
(4) build a stored energy supply (fat) for later needs. About 5–10% of the food energy intake is excreted in the
feces and urine

We will first consider

- the basics of the conservation of energy (thermodynamics).
- Then we will examine the energy content of food and the way it is stored in the body.
- We will see what the body’s metabolic rate needs to be to perform tasks. (This is technically the catabolic rate.)
- We will then analyze how the body loses energy as heat.
A. Conservation of Energy and Heat Flow
Our own bodies, like all living organisms, are energy
conversion machines. Conservation of energy implies
that the chemical energy stored in food is converted
into work, thermal energy, or stored as chemical energy
in fatty tissue. By far the largest fraction goes to thermal
energy, although the fraction varies depending on the
type of physical activity. The fraction going into each
form depends both on how much we eat and on our
level of physical activity. If we eat more than is needed
to do work and stay warm, the remainder goes into body
fat.
Conservation of Energy and Heat Flow
The First Law of Thermodynamics is essentially the conservation of energy in any process.

where
ΔU is the change in stored energy,
Q is the heat flow to the body, and
W is the mechanical work done by the body.
 The stored energy decreases, ΔU < 0,
 when there is heat flow from the body,Q < 0,
 and work done by the body, W > 0.
This type of work is purely mechanical in nature, such as in moving and lifting items.

Heat flow includes heat production from the metabolism (Qmet) and heat loss (Qloss) from radiation,
convection, conduction, and evaporation. We can express Q = Qmet + Qloss, where metabolic heat
production is positive and a negative Qloss indicates heat flow away from the body, so

Qmet is called the metabolic rate (MR).

Relationships in thermodynamics involve amounts of energies changing in a process at equilibrium and not those changing per
unit time, i.e., the kinetics of that process, which involves the rates of energy changes or flows.
The study of the metabolism usually involves rates and therefore is more appropriate.

We need to be careful about signs.

 The body increases its energy with terms such as dQmet/dt that are positive and
 loses it with terms such as dQloss/dt that are negative.
All types of energy have the same units, including heat (often expressed in terms of calories) and work (often
expressed in terms of joules).

One important conversion between units is:

o 1calorie (cal) = 4.184 joule (J). (6.4)
o 1 kilocalorie (1 kcal = 1,000 cal) is sometimes called 1
Cal, which is also known as a food calorie.
The energy content of food is always expressed in
terms of these Cal (kcal) units.
example, what is the power output for a 60.0-kg woman who runs up a 3.00 m high flight of stairs in 3.50 s, starting from rest
but having a final speed of 2.00 m/s?.

o Her power output depends on how fast she does this. The work going into mechanical energy is
W= KE + PE.
o At the bottom of the stairs, we take both KE and PE as initially zero; thus, where h is the vertical
height of the stairs.
o Because all terms are given, we can calculate W and then divide it by time to get power.
Substituting the expression for W into the definition of power given in the previous equation,
P=W/t yields

120 J + 1764 J

3.50 s

The woman does 1764 J of work to move up the stairs compared with only 120 J to increase her kinetic energy; thus, most of
her power output is required for climbing rather than accelerating.
B. Energy Content of Body Fuel

Adenosine Triphosphate
(ATP)
‫أدينوسين ثالثي الفوسفات‬
B.1 Energy Content of Body Fuel
Glucose
The metabolism of glucose is representative of the of carbohydrates.
If we start with 1 mol of glucose (180 g) and oxidize it with 6 mol of oxygen molecules (192 g) there are 6 mol of
carbon dioxide, 6 mol of water (108 g, 108 mL), and 686 kcal of energy produced (ATP).

metabolic oxidation the body combines this 1 mol of glucose with 30–32 mol of ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate )
and 30–32 mol of the phosphate group Pi to form 30–32 mol of the energy storage molecule ATP (Adenosine
Triphosphate ).
Palmitic Acid
The oxidation of palmitic acid is representative of that of fatty acids. Oxidation proceeds by
1 mol (256.4 g) of palmitic acid is burned by 23 mol (515.2 L) of oxygen to form 16 mol (358.4 L) each of carbon
dioxide and water, and 2,397 kcal of energy produced (ATP).

metabolic oxidation the body uses this 1 mol of palmitic acid to combine 106 mol of both ADP and the phosphate
group Pi to form 106 mol of ATP.
In comparing glucose C6H12O6 with palmitic acid C16H32O2
• both have the same 1:2 ratio of C and H, so after oxidation, equal numbers of moles of CO2 and H2O are
formed in both cases.
• However, palmitic acid and other fats have much less oxygen per C and H than glucose and other
carbohydrates, so less mass of them is consumed per mole of CO2 and H2O formed.
(The molar mass of palmitic acid is 256 g, and this is much less than the 480 g molar mass of the “equivalent
carbohydrate” C16H32O16.) Alternatively (and equivalently), we can say that fats are less oxidized, are more
reduced, and have greater reducing power than carbohydrates.
The respiratory exchange ratio (RER) (or respiratory quotient (RQ))
is another way to characterize metabolic processes.
the number of moles of CO2 produced/number of moles O2 used, and is a measure of how much carbon dioxide
needs to be released in respiration relative to how much oxygen the body needs to bring in by respiration.
 RER = 6 L CO2/6 L O2 = 1.0 for glucose oxidation
 RER = 16 L/23 L = 0.7 for palmitic acid oxidation. It is typically 0.8 for protein oxidation.

The Donut.
contains 18 g of fat, 29 g of carbohydrate, and 2 g of protein, We see that 49 g of the total 57 g
mass of the donut has 286 kcal (286 food calories) per donut. The package says there are 280 kcal
per donut.
C. Energy Storage Molecules
C. Energy Storage Molecules
C.1. How ATP is Produced and Used as an Energy Source
Catabolism. ATP, adenosine triphosphate, is the basic unit of energy storage in the body and it enables the rapid
release of energy.
Why does the body convert food fuel to ATP and not directly oxidize carbohydrates, fatty acids, and proteins?
1. The use of ATP is more controllable.
2. Also, the unit of energy provided by ATP is small enough to be useful.
3. It consists of a five-carbon sugar, ribose, that is linked to the aromatic base, adenine – forming adenosine, and
three phosphate groups. The two bonds linking the phosphate groups are unstable, high-energy bonds; the
leftmost interphosphate bond splits in the hydrolysis of ATP
ADP is adenosine diphosphate. This is the basic catabolic process for energy release.

The energy released, or more precisely the free energy, ranges from 7 to 14 kcal/mol of ATP, depending on

conditions.

Anabolism. After hydrolysis, ADP needs to be combined with a phosphate group to reform ATP for later use. On

the average, each ATP molecule is recycled this way every minute.
D. Loss of Body Heat

a
One important concept in the thermal physics of the body is the heat capacity C,
which is the energy (or more specifically, the heat) required to raise the temperature T of an object by 1◦C.
The heat capacity per unit volume or mass is the specific heat c.

For water, cwater = 1.0 cal/g-◦C = 1.0 kcal/kg-◦C.

the average specific heat of the body is a bit less, cbody = 0.83 cal/g-◦C = 0.83 kcal/kg-◦C.
This means that it takes 83 kcal to raise the temperature of a 100 kg person by 1◦C.
This 83 kcal (83 food calories) is approximately the food energy content of a slice of bread.

An obvious question arises: If most of our metabolized energy becomes heat, why does not our body
temperature increase by 1.0 ◦C = 1.8 ◦F each time we eat and metabolize a slice of bread? We are very
fortunate it does not. (The reason is heat loss by the body.)
 The heat capacity of an object describes how its temperature changes with time due to heat flow to and
from the object.
 the heat flux is the amount of heat that flows per unit area A per unit time.
 The thermal conductivity K describes how the temperature varies (ΔT) spatially due to the heat flow
between different regions that are separated by a distance Δx. (Conversely, it also describes how much heat
flows due to this spatial variation in temperature.) This relation is

The minus sign indicates that heat flows from hotter

regions to colder regions.
D.1. Modes of Heat Loss
There are four modes of heat loss. Their absolute magnitude and relative importance depend on clothing,
environment, surroundings, etc.

1. Radiation loss, also known as black body radiation, is the thermal radiation emitted by an object in thermal

equilibrium. At rest, about 54–60% of energy loss is typically through thermal radiation.

2. Convection and conduction of air from the body account for ∼25% of heat loss.

3. evaporation of sweat accounts for ∼7% of heat loss.

4. Respiration The evaporation of water through breathing accounts for ∼14% of this loss.
1. Heat Loss by Radiation
• Bodies in thermal equilibrium emit a specific flow of energy per unit surface area and time depending on their
temperature.
• They also receive a flow of thermal radiation from the outside world over their surface area that depends on
the temperature of the surroundings.
the total energy flow per unit area and time (energy flux) is
determined by integrating (6.37) over all wavelengths to
obtain the radiation flux, R, (which is energy/area-time)

where σ is the Stefan–Boltzmann constant = 5.67 × 10-8 W/m2K4.

At skin temperature (34◦C), the thermal emission is 505 W/m2 for
ɛ = 1.

Radiation incident on an object can be reflected by it, absorbed by it, or transmitted through it.
The emissivity is the fraction of energy incident on the object that is absorbed.

Note: For a perfect black body it is 1. Most objects have a somewhat lower emissivity because of reflection and
transmission, and an emissivity that actually varies with wavelength (and sometimes temperature).
The energy loss per unit time due to thermal radiation from the body is

where ɛskin is the skin (or clothing) emissivity, Tskin is the body skin temperature, and Askin is the body surface area.
(Remember that dQ/dt < 0 means that the body loses energy and becomes colder. The left-hand side of equations
such as this are positive.)
The correct temperature to use is that of the body skin (34◦C = 307 K), which is a bit lower than that of the core of
the body (37◦C = 310 K). The average body surface area is Askin ≈ 1.85 m2, so the rate of body heat loss is

assuming the emissivity skin is 1

The body also receives thermal radiation from its surroundings. The analysis is somewhat different for a person who is
indoors, i.e., in an enclosed space, and one who is outdoors, where there are no enclosures and there can be direct
heating by the sun during the day.
2. Heat Loss by Convection
Convection is the transport of heat through mass flow of the medium.
Conduction is the transport of heat through a medium without mass flow (involving electrons, vibrations, local
molecular motion, etc.).
 In gases and liquids both mechanisms can contribute. Convection is the larger of the two and it is not always
simple to differentiate between the two.
 In solids only conduction contributes.

 Convection is heat transfer by mass motion of a fluid such as

air or water when the heated fluid is caused to move away
from the source of heat, carrying energy with it.
 Convection above a hot surface occurs because hot air
expands, becomes less dense, and rises. Hot water is likewise
less dense than cold water and rises, causing convection
currents which transport energy.
 3. Heat Loss by Conduction
Conduction is heat transfer by means of molecular agitation within a material without any motion of the material
as a whole. If one end of a metal rod is at a higher temperature, then energy will be transferred down the rod
toward the colder end because the higher speed particles will collide with the slower ones with a net transfer of
energy to the slower ones. For heat transfer between two plane surfaces, such as heat loss through the wall of a
house, the rate of conduction heat transfer is:

the heat flow during thermal conduction is the product of the thermal conductivity K and the temperature
gradient
4. Heat Loss by Evaporation of Water: Sweating and Breathing
The amount of heat needed to evaporate 1 L of water is 540 kcal; this is the heat of vaporization. When we
sweat there is loss of heat only if the water is allowed to evaporate. (Wiping off the sweat will not cool you.)
This normally accounts for ∼7 kcal/h loss.