Little fires aren’t happening all up in our bodies…are they?
In: Biology
A calorie is a unit of energy referring to the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. “Burning calories” is just like saying burning fuel or burning energy.
Sort of. In a fire, the fuel combines with oxygen in a chemical reaction that makes heat. In tiny organs inside your cells called mitochondria, fuel is combined with oxygen but the energy is captured in other molecules that power our cells. A by-product of these reactions is the heat that keeps our bodies warm.
Kind of like how some cars with fuel cells create electricity that turns motors to make the wheels spin vs regular gas cars that create small fires to turn a series of parts that spin the wheels.
Edit: If you want the gory details, here is the Citric Acid Cycle, which powers all of our cells: [https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-respiration-and-fermentation/pyruvate-oxidation-and-the-citric-acid-cycle/a/the-citric-acid-cycle](https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-respiration-and-fermentation/pyruvate-oxidation-and-the-citric-acid-cycle/a/the-citric-acid-cycle)
No, but your calories are energy and your body is using that energy. Think of it like you are burning fuel: like a fireplace, or a car. It’s really just a saying that was coined when most sources of energy came from burning. In our bodies it is a chemical reaction, not a fire, but the result is the same: a transfer of energy.
You almost literally burn it.
Your body (usually) converts the calories you consume into a sugar called glucose. Far, carbs, sugar, alcohol, protein, all things that have calories, all turned into glucose.
Your cells then burn glucose to do all the things that keep you alive. Move muscles, make new cells, grow, think. All burning glucose.
Now surely I mean “burn” metaphorically, right? Well, yes and no. There’s no a flame, that is a very hot plasma. But it’s basically fire, a much more controlled one. Consider that rust is just iron burning, “fire” can be slower and more controlled. The sugar your body burns does the exact same thing sugar does if you lit it on fire, oxygen is consumed, and it turns into smoke. Smoke being water vapour and CO2. That’s what you exhale, CO2 and water vapour. You exhale smoke.
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