Physiology and Hygiene for Secondary Schools Part 22

Fig. 81-*Simple device* for storing energy through gravity.

*Simple Methods of Storing Energy.*-Energy is stored by converting the kinetic into the potential form. Two of the simplest ways of doing this are the following:

1. _Storing of Energy through Gravity._-On account of the attraction between the earth and all bodies upon the earth, the mere lifting of a weight puts it in a position where gravity can cause it to move (Fig. 81).

As a consequence _the raising of bodies above the earth's surface is a means of storing energy_-the energy remaining stored until the bodies fall. As they fall, the stored-up (potential) energy becomes kinetic and can be made to do work.

2. _Storing of Energy through Elasticity._-Energy is stored also by doing work in opposition to elasticity, as in bending a bow or in winding a clock spring. The bending, twisting, stretching, or compressing of elastic substances puts them in a condition of _strain_ which causes them to exert a pressure (called elastic force) that tends to restore them to their former condition. Energy stored by this means becomes active as the distorted or compressed substance returns to its former shape or volume.

These simple methods of storing energy will serve to ill.u.s.trate the general principles upon which such storage depends:

1. To store energy, energy must be expended, or work done.

2. The work must be against some force, such as gravity or elasticity, which can undo the work, i.e., bring about an effect opposite to that of the work.

3. The stored energy becomes active (kinetic) as the force through which the energy was stored undoes the work, or puts the substance upon which the work was done into its former condition (gravity causing bodies to fall, etc.).

These principles are further ill.u.s.trated by the

*Storing of Energy through Chemical Means.*-A good example of storing energy by chemical means is that of decomposing water with electricity. If a current of electricity is pa.s.sed through acidulated water in a suitable apparatus (Fig. 82), the water separates into its component gases, oxygen and hydrogen. These gases now have power (energy) which they did not possess before they were separated. The hydrogen will burn in the oxygen, giving heat; and if the two gases are mixed in the right proportions and then ignited, they explode with violence. This energy was derived from the electricity. It was stored by _decomposing_ the water.

[Fig. 82]

Fig. 82-*Storing energy by chemical means.* Apparatus for decomposing water with electricity.

Energy is stored by chemical means by causing it to do work in opposition to the force of chemism, or chemical affinity. Instead of changing the form of bodies or moving them against gravity, it overcomes the force that causes atoms to unite and to hold together after they have united. Since in most cases the atoms on separating from any given combination unite at once to form other combinations, we may say that _energy is stored when strong chemical combinations are broken up and weak ones formed_. Energy stored by this means becomes active when the atoms of weak combinations unite to form combinations that are strong.(70)

*How Plants store the Sun's Energy.*-The earth's supply of energy comes from the sun. While much of this, after warming and lighting the earth's surface, is lost by radiation, a portion of it is stored up and retained.

The sun's energy is stored both through the force of gravity(71) and by chemical means, the latter being the more important of the two methods.

Plants supply the means for storing it chemically (Fig. 83). Attention has already been called to the fact (page 112) that growing plants are continually taking carbon dioxide into their leaves from the air. This they decompose, adding the carbon to compounds in their tissues and returning the oxygen to the air. It is found, however, that this process does not occur unless the plants are exposed to sunlight. The sunlight supplies the energy for overcoming the attraction between the atoms of oxygen and the atoms of carbon, while the plant itself serves as the instrument through which the sunlight acts. The energy for decomposing the carbon dioxide then comes from the sun, and through the decomposition of the carbon dioxide the sun's energy is stored-becomes potential. It remains stored until the carbon of the plant again unites with the oxygen of the air, as in combustion.

[Fig. 83]

Fig. 83-*Nature's device* for storing energy from the sun. See text.

*The Sun's Energy in Food and Oxygen.*-Food is derived directly or indirectly from plants and sustains the same relation to the oxygen of the air as do the plants themselves. (The elements in the food have an attraction for the oxygen, but are separated chemically from it.) On account of this relation they have potential energy-the energy derived through the plant from the sun. When a person eats the food and breathes the oxygen, this energy becomes the possession of the body. It is then converted into kinetic energy as the needs of the body require.

[Fig. 84]

Fig. 84-*Simple apparatus* for ill.u.s.trating transformation of energy.

Potential energy is converted into heat and heat into motion.

*From the Sun to the Cells.*-It thus appears that the body comes into possession of energy, and is able to use it, through a series of transferences and transformations that can be traced back to the sun.(72) Coming to the earth as kinetic energy, it is transformed into potential energy and stored in the compounds of plants and in the oxygen of the air.

Through the food and the oxygen the potential energy is transferred to the cells of the body. Then by the uniting of the food and the oxygen at the cells (oxidation), the potential becomes kinetic energy and is used by the body in doing its work. The phrase "Child of the Sun" has sometimes been applied to man to express his dependence upon the sun for his supply of energy.

*Why Oxygen and Food are Both Necessary.*-The necessity for introducing both oxygen and food into the body for the purpose of supplying energy is now apparent. The energy which is used in the body is not the energy of food alone. Nor is it the energy of oxygen alone. It belongs to both. It is due to their attraction for each other and their condition of separation. It cannot, therefore, become kinetic except through their union. To introduce one of these substances into the body without the other, would neither introduce the energy nor set it free. They must both be introduced into the body and there caused to unite.

*Bodily Control of Energy.*-A fact of importance in the supply of energy to the body is that the rate of transformation (changing of potential to kinetic) is just sufficient for its needs. It is easily seen that too rapid or too slow a rate would prove injurious. The oxidations at the cells are, therefore, under such control that the quant.i.ty of kinetic energy supplied to the body as a whole, and to the different organs, is proportional to the work that is done. This is attained, in part at least, through the ability of the body to store up the food materials and hold them in reserve until they are to be oxidized (page 180).

*Animal Heat and Motion.*-Most of the body's energy is expended as heat in keeping warm. It is estimated that as much as five sixths of the whole amount is used in this way. The proportion, however, varies with different persons and is not constant in the same individual during different seasons of the year. This heat is used in keeping the body at that temperature which is best suited to carrying on the vital processes. All parts of the body, through oxidation, furnish heat. Active organs, however, such as the muscles, the brain, and the glands (especially the liver), furnish the larger share. The blood in its circulation serves as a _heat distributer_ for the body and keeps the temperature about the same in all its parts (page 33).

Next to the production of heat, in the consumption of the body's energy, is the production of motion. This topic will be considered in the study of the muscular system (Chapter XV).

*Some Questions of Hygiene.*-The heat-producing capacity of the body sustains a very important relation to the general health. A sudden chill may result in a number of derangements and is supposed to be a predisposing cause of _colds_. One's capacity for producing heat may be so low that he is unable to respond to a sudden demand for heat, as in going from a warm room into a cold one. As a consequence, the body is unable to protect itself against unavoidable exposures.

_Impairment of the heat-producing capacity_ is brought about in many ways.

Several diseases do this directly, or indirectly, to quite an extent. In health too great care in protecting the body from cold is the most potent cause of its impairment. Staying in rooms heated above a temperature of 70 F., wearing clothing unnecessarily heavy, and sleeping under an excess of bed clothes, all diminish the power of the body to produce heat. They accustom it to producing only a small amount, so that it does not receive sufficient of what might be called _heat-producing exercise_. Lack of physical exercise in the open air, as well as too much time spent in poorly lighted and ventilated rooms, tends also to reduce one's ability to produce heat. Moreover, since most of the heat of the body comes from the union of oxygen and food materials at the cells, a lack of either of these will interfere with the production of heat.

*Results of Exhaustion.*-Through overwork, or excesses in pleasurable pursuits, one may make greater demands upon the energy of his body than it can properly supply. The resulting condition, known as _exhaustion_, is not only a matter of temporary inconvenience, but may through repet.i.tion lead to a serious impairment of the health. It should be noted, in this connection, that the energy of the body is spent in two general ways: first, in carrying on the vital processes; and second, in the performance of voluntary activities. Since, in all cases, there is a limit to one's energy, it is easily possible to expend so much in the voluntary activities that the amount left is not sufficient for the vital processes.

This leads to various disturbances and, among other things, renders the body less able to supply itself with energy.

*The Problem of Increasing One's Energy.*-Since the energy supply is kept up through the food and the oxygen, it might be inferred that the introduction of these substances into the body in larger amounts would increase the energy at one's disposal. This does not necessarily follow.

Oxidation at the cells is preceded by digestion, absorption, circulation, and a.s.similation. It is followed and influenced by the removal of wastes from the body. A careful study of the problem leads to the conclusion that while the energy supply to the body does depend upon the introduction of the proper amounts of food and oxygen, it also depends upon the efficiency of the vital processes. The maximum amount of energy may, therefore, be expected when the body is in a condition of perfect health. Hence, one desiring to increase the amount of his energy must give attention to all those conditions that improve the health.

*Effect of Stimulants on the Energy Supply.*-In the effort to get out of the body as much as possible of work or of pleasure, various stimulants, such as alcohol, tobacco, and strong tea and coffee, have been used.

Though these have the effect of giving a temporary feeling of strength and of enabling the individual in some instances to accomplish results which he could not otherwise have brought about, the general effect of their use is to lessen, rather than to increase, the sum total of bodily power. The student, for example, who drinks strong coffee in order to study late at night is able to command less energy on the day following. While enabling him to draw upon his reserve of nervous power for the time being, the coffee deprives him of sleep and needed rest.

The danger of stimulants, so far as energy is concerned, is this: they tend to exhaust the bodily reserve so that there is not sufficient left for properly running the vital processes. Evidences of their weakening effect are found in the feeling of discomfort and la.s.situde which result when stimulants to which the body has become accustomed are withdrawn. Not until one gets back his bodily reserve is he able to work normally and effectively. Increase in bodily energy comes through health and not through the use of stimulants.

*Summary.*-The body requires a continuous supply of energy. To obtain this supply, materials possessing potential, or stored-up, energy are introduced into it. The free oxygen of the air and the substances known as foods, on account of the chemical relations which they sustain to each other, contain potential energy and are utilized for supplying the body.

So long as the foods are not oxidized, the energy remains in the potential form, but in the process of oxidation the potential energy is changed to kinetic energy and made to do the work of the body.

*Exercises.*-1. In what different ways does the body use energy?

2. Show that a stone lying against the earth has no energy, while the same stone above the earth has energy.

3. How does potential energy differ from kinetic energy?

4. What kind of energy is possessed by a bent bow? By a revolving wheel?

By a coiled spring? By the wind? By gunpowder?

5. How does decomposing water with electricity store energy?

6. Account for the energy possessed by the oxygen of the air and food substances.

7. Trace the energy supply of the body back to the sun.

8. Why must both oxygen and food be introduced into the body in order to supply it with energy?

9. How may overwork and overexercise diminish the energy supply of the body?

10. How may one increase the amount of his energy?