RE: Stupid Question That's Bothering Me
July 21, 2011 at 7:46 pm
(This post was last modified: July 21, 2011 at 8:03 pm by Anomalocaris.)
I think this might clear it up.
Your biological processes such as thinking, feeling, muscular movement, etc, things that makes you who your are, are not exactly powered by heat in the same sense that a steam engine might be powered by heat. Instead, they are powered by something which in physics is the equivalent of heat - chemical energy - delivered by a molecure called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). There is an organ in each of your cells called mitochrondria that captures energy from reaction between things your eat, and things you breath, and converts that energy into a storable, deliverable chemical energy in the form of ATP. All the other organs in your cell that use ATP to power their biological processes, which merges to give you your thoughts, feelings, and movements. Technically, you are not being powered by heat. You are powered by chemical energy.
It so happens that many of the cellular processes uses ATP more efficiently when the cell is warm. It doesn't actually use that warmth for energy. But the warmth sort of lubricate the normal cellular processes which otherwise gums up in the cold. In Endotherms, some of the mitochrondiras in many cells have been changed from their ancesteral form. Instead of capturing the energy from the food you eat and the air you breath to create ATP, they release that energy directly into their cell as heat. This is how endotherms generate body heat. The body heat does not directly power anything else, but it does create a favorable environment for other things to happen.
In ectotherms, they don't have this type of mitochrondria. Their mitochrondria only generate ATP energy their cells can directly use. They don't create heat just so their cells can bask in the warmth. So they have to find some other form of warmth to warm up their cells to make their cellular process smooth and efficient. Usually ectotherms bask under the sun on hot rocks or concrete pavement to warm up their cells to smooth their cellular processes.
So you see, in both ectotherms and endotherms, there are internal mechanisms in each cell that powers the biological processes of the creature with chemical energy. When enough of these biological processes stop, either because it is not supplied with enough chemcial ATP energy, or because its structure is disturbed or its chemical balance is disturbed, the creature, whether ectothermic or endothermic, dies. When a ectotherm reptile dies, all its mitochrondria shuts down and decays, all the structures and chemicals that supports any thought or feeling decays just as would those of an endothermic primate. It's not the body heat that makes the difference. It's the cellular processes powered by ATP.
Your biological processes such as thinking, feeling, muscular movement, etc, things that makes you who your are, are not exactly powered by heat in the same sense that a steam engine might be powered by heat. Instead, they are powered by something which in physics is the equivalent of heat - chemical energy - delivered by a molecure called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). There is an organ in each of your cells called mitochrondria that captures energy from reaction between things your eat, and things you breath, and converts that energy into a storable, deliverable chemical energy in the form of ATP. All the other organs in your cell that use ATP to power their biological processes, which merges to give you your thoughts, feelings, and movements. Technically, you are not being powered by heat. You are powered by chemical energy.
It so happens that many of the cellular processes uses ATP more efficiently when the cell is warm. It doesn't actually use that warmth for energy. But the warmth sort of lubricate the normal cellular processes which otherwise gums up in the cold. In Endotherms, some of the mitochrondiras in many cells have been changed from their ancesteral form. Instead of capturing the energy from the food you eat and the air you breath to create ATP, they release that energy directly into their cell as heat. This is how endotherms generate body heat. The body heat does not directly power anything else, but it does create a favorable environment for other things to happen.
In ectotherms, they don't have this type of mitochrondria. Their mitochrondria only generate ATP energy their cells can directly use. They don't create heat just so their cells can bask in the warmth. So they have to find some other form of warmth to warm up their cells to make their cellular process smooth and efficient. Usually ectotherms bask under the sun on hot rocks or concrete pavement to warm up their cells to smooth their cellular processes.
So you see, in both ectotherms and endotherms, there are internal mechanisms in each cell that powers the biological processes of the creature with chemical energy. When enough of these biological processes stop, either because it is not supplied with enough chemcial ATP energy, or because its structure is disturbed or its chemical balance is disturbed, the creature, whether ectothermic or endothermic, dies. When a ectotherm reptile dies, all its mitochrondria shuts down and decays, all the structures and chemicals that supports any thought or feeling decays just as would those of an endothermic primate. It's not the body heat that makes the difference. It's the cellular processes powered by ATP.
