Little fires aren’t happening all up in our bodies…are they?
In: Biology
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)
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