The Mystery of Energy

Did you know through each step of the food chain, 90% of the energy carried is lost? Well, that’s a good result already as there’s a greater loss of energy in industrial manufacturing. Where does the lost energy go, though, and how does the kept energy make up for this loss?

We know that matter is not turned into energy in normal biological conditions. We also know that matter cannot be created or destroyed. For example, there are almost the same amount of chemical particles in the world as 10,000 years ago, if we don’t take into account the transfer of  matter from space into the earth. However, extraterrestrial matter does play a role, as the energy circulating in our ecosystem originates from the sun. To put it simply, the sun uses nuclear fusion to produce energy and then loses some of that energy as sunlight. In other ways, Energy is wasted as we generate heat. I can feel the heat when I’m next to my friends, which means a great amount of heat is released by the human body every second. Also, it takes energy for mussels to move around, and that’s basically where that energy goes. This sunlight is then processed by the earth’s plants via photosynthesis, creating energy stored in glucose molecules, thus bringing the sun’s lost energy into the earth’s food chain. People would question if nuclear power can create that energy since nuclear reactions turn matter into energy. I would say our technology is not advanced enough for that level of power. Still, we are relying on the sun but I believe one day we can generate enough energy ourselves.