eli5 if we get energy from the food we eat does this mean the food (matter) is converted into energy ? .

Question

I thought matter to energy conversion are only possible in nuclear reactors. Also if you’re fat and exercise to lose weight does this mean you have converted your matter into energy?

In: 0

Answer 1

Every chemical process is converting mass into energy… The question is just efficiently…

For example burning converts 0.00001% of mass to energy… So if you counted weight of everything going in and compare it with everything going out, it would be tiny bit off

Nuclear fission has just better efficiency… Nuclear fusion even better

Cool video about it: https://youtu.be/t-O-Qdh7VvQ