Energetics

Energetics is quite an amazing story about the path of energy from the sun going to how this energy supports life. No wonder why ancient people once thought of the Sun as God!

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Ecosystems, Wikipedia says, exist and operate by virtue of a flow of energy through the components of the system and thermodynamics forms the very basis of the biosphere.
Biosphere is the part of the Earth that supports life. It is basically composed of all the waters in the world where we find aquatic plants, animals and protists; all the land masses of the world where terrestrial living organisms thrive; and the atmosphere that surround the earth where birds fly.

Going back to energy: All Earth’s energy comes from the large ball of fire which we were introduced to as the Sun. Here, I’m going to discuss two energies that come from the Sun which supports life on Earth. Our understanding of these concepts would make us appreciate the value of interrelationship among living and nonliving things.

Sun gives off LIGHT ENERGY. This light energy sets up the process called photosynthesis. In photosynthesis, inorganic compounds such as carbon dioxide and water are “processed” with the help of light energy into food. When we are hungry, we do not have energy to do work. Now, energy from the sun is stored as potential energy in the form of “food” - particularly in the chemical bonds of C6H12O6 – in plants. Herbivores harvest this energy from plants through eating… and there goes the chain of predators in the food chain where energy is passed from the first trophic level of plants to the next and the next trophic levels.

Sun also gives off RADIANT ENERGY or energy of electromagnetic waves. This energy brings HEAT ENERGY which causes winds and current. Remember that the earth experiences differential heating because of its shape and its tilt. Winds and current cause brings KINETIC ENERGY – energy in motion. Also, because of heat, warming results in the evaporation of water. Therefore, hydrologic cycle is triggered. POTENTIAL ENERGY is possessed when water evaporates and begins to be stored in the clouds. As it falls back down to Earth, we have energy in the form of KINETIC.

If we put the key concepts of Food chains and energetics together, we could justify the importance of eating veggies! Veggies have more energy since they are in the first trophic level!