Hi
Readers,
My
name is Franz Devantier, creator of this blog. I
am an Herbalist, who uses local and indigenous herbs when available, in
preference to imported herbs. Because
Herbalists deal with living human beings, it is important to have an
understanding of Anatomy and Physiology, as well as many other related subjects.
Building
Blocks of Chemistry part 1
Matter:
Matter is anything that occupies space and has mass. To keep things simple we can consider mass
and weight to be the same. The mass of
an object is equivalent to the amount of matter in the object, which is a
constant definition. The weight of an
object varies with the attraction of gravity, which is different at sea-level,
to the weight inside an aeroplane flying at high altitude, although the mass
has remained constant.
State of Matter:
Matter exists in solid, liquid and gaseous states. In the human body the teeth and bones are
solids, and have a definite shape and volume which is maintained. Blood plasma is a liquid, which maintains a
constant volume, but no definite shape, it takes on the shape of the inside of
the blood vessels. The air that we
breathe into our lungs is a gas, and has no definite shape, nor constant
volume. So matter exists in all its
states inside the human body.
Energy:
Energy has no mass, and does not take up space. Energy can be measured by the effects that it
has on matter. You can define energy as
the capacity to do work, or to move matter.
The greater the amount of energy available the more work it can do. A powerful motorcar can travel a lot faster
than a less powerful motorcar, because of the relative amounts of energy
involved. If a cricket player batsman hits
a six, he has used a lot more energy, than if he were to just block the ball
with his bat. Of course the relationship
of mass and energy does get a bit more interesting.
E=MC2, where E = energy, m=mass, and C = the speed of
light.
Mass and energy can be considered to be two names or
measurement units for the same underlying conserved physical quantity. Kinetic or radiant energy can be converted to
other kinds of particles which have rest energy or rest mass. During the transformation process from mass
to energy and the other way around, neither the total mass, or the total energy
changes, since they are both connected to each other by a constant.
However for our purposes, we are going to consider the mass
and energy as two distinct processes within the human body, because we are not
dealing with any part of the body approaching the speed of light, or the effects
on the human body inside the centre of a nuclear explosion. We will be considering the release of chemical
energy that is stored in chemical bonds, inside the body.
Kinetic and
Potential Energy:
Basically energy exists in two forms, or defined
states. For example if you drop a stone
that you are carrying, and it starts falling towards the ground towards your
foot, that is energy in motion or Kinetic energy. As this stone hits your foot, the kinetic
energy is converted into pain. The stone
is now lying still, so there is no more kinetic energy in the stone.
Potential energy on the other hand is stored or inactive energy
that has the potential to do work, but is not currently doing any work. The battery in your cell phone when it is
switched off, represents Potential energy.
As soon as you switch the cell phone on, the potential energy is
released, and becomes Kinetic energy, as it starts to operate your cell-phone.
Energy is more the domain of physics, than any medically
related topic, but since matter and energy are so closely related, and we are
dealing with matter, we need to deal with energy as well, even if we just
scratch the surface. Matter is the
building block of all the substances in the in the Human Body, and energy is
the mover of those substances. Living
organisms that are composed of matter, need energy in order to live, grow and
function. Living organisms release and
use energy, and this is part of what makes up the miracle of life, or that
special something that makes an organism alive or dead. So we should go just a little deeper into the
different forms of energy that are present in the Human Body.
Forms of Energy:
The Human Body uses several forms of energy.
Chemical Energy is energy that is stored in the bonds of chemical
substances. When the chemical bonds are
broken, potential energy is released and becomes available for use in the form
of Kinetic energy. Some of the food you
eat would be converted directly into the energy that you use for body
movements. Mainly though food fuels can’t
be directly used to energize body movements.
Some of the energy in the food that we eat is captured in the bonds of a
chemical “Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)”.
When the energy is needed then the chemical bonds of ATP are broken and
the stored energy is released for use in the cells of the body. ATP is the most basic form of chemical energy
in the body, and it is used to run all the functional processes in the body.
Electrical Energy is to do with the movement of charged particles. We know electrical energy best, from the use
of electricity in the home. Electric
lights, the geyser, kettle etc, all work on electrical energy; which consists
of electrons flowing along the wiring in the household appliances.
In your body electrical currents are generated as charged particles
(ions) move across the membranes of your cells.
The nervous system uses electrical currents called nerve impulses, to
transmit messages from one part of the body to another part of the body. For example electrical impulses moving across
the heart, are what causes the heart to contract and pump blood. So it becomes easier to understand why a
strong electrical shock to the body can easily upset the delicate electrical
balance in the body, and even result in death.
Mechanical Energy is the energy that physically moves matter or
objects. For example walking down the
street, is made possible with mechanical energy. Your muscles move your bones in a complex
way, and the result is that you are able to move from one place to another.
Radiant Energy, also known as Electromagnetic energy, is energy that
travels in waves. These waves, have different
wavelengths, and the whole range of energy in this form is known as the “electromagnetic
spectrum”. The electromagnetic spectrum
includes visible light, infrared waves, radio waves, ultraviolet rays, and X
rays. When light strikes the retinas of
our eyes, it is really electromagnetic waves in the visible light spectrum or
range, that is striking the retinas of our eyes. After the light has struck, a whole chain of
events or reactions result that will eventually result in us being able to see
the object that the light came from.
Ultimately vision is formed in a part of the brain, it is not a direct
sense like the sense of touch for example.
Ultraviolet waves cause sunburn, but they also stimulate our body to
make vitamin D. So sunlight needs to be
received in very carefully measured doses, if you have a suntan, you have had
an overdose of sunlight. X rays are not
part of the body’s function. X rays have
shown some importance in the study of human anatomy, and medical diagnosis, although
they are unhealthy for the body.
Energy can mainly easily be converted from one form to
another form. Chemical energy in the
form of petrol or gasoline is converted into mechanical engine, which propels
your car forward. Energy conversions are
always inefficient. Some of the original
energy is always lost to the environment as heat energy, during the energy
conversion. Note that energy cannot be
lost or destroyed, but can be converted to other forms, that you may not be
able to utilize. Think of this energy
conversion, Electrical energy is converted into light energy in a light
bulb. However the light bulb will lose a
lot of energy in the form of heat energy, the light bulb may be hot enough to
burn yourself on. In the body the same
principles apply. The various energy
conversions in the body all liberate heat.
This heat makes us warm blooded animals, and is one of the reasons why
human beings have a relatively high body temperature. The high body temperature has an important influence
on the functioning of our bodies. The
higher the temperature, the higher the kinetic energy, the faster the body’s
chemical reactions occur. In fact there
is in reality a very narrow band of temperature in which the body can
function. If the body gets too hot, then
the proteins begin to denature or deform, and the body can no longer function
properly on a chemical level, which can lead to death. If the body gets too cold then it moves out
of its optimum zone of operation, and can also eventually lead to death. When the body gets too cold to function
properly, this is often referred to as Hypothermia, and leads to death if left
untreated, or the temperature of the body gets too low. The body has a complex mechanism which
regulates the temperature of itself.
You can say that the chemical makeup of our bodies was
created or designed to function within a very specific temperature band; or
that we evolved from groups of chemicals and building blocks, that function
optimally in a very specific temperature band.
Which one is it?
Franz Devantier,
