Highlight from E.O. Wilsons Life on Earth Where do you get the energy to work, play, and think? Is it the hamburger you ate? The protein in the burger? The ultimate source of energy that propels you through your day is energy in photons from the sun. Chlorophyll in plant leaves gobble the photons and hang onto the energy. The energy is transferred via juiced-up electrons to other molecules. Molecules undergo chemical changes, losing bits of energy along the way, but lots of the energy hangs around. The plant molecules are gobbled by animals that use up some of the energy but store the rest in animal molecules. People gobble the animal molecules. The animal molecules are full of energy. It’s the very same energy that arrived in a photon. And so that hamburger you ate… was just a tasty way to consume photon energy. Post courtesy of Morgan Ryan, Project Director of E.O. Wilsons Life on Earth
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 15:20:25 +0000
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