When we eat food our body add the extracted minerals to our overall mass as well as converting it to energy. What is the process that converts the food to electricity? (Assuming that’s what’s happening)

Question

In thinking about how when a tree consume CO2 and expels O2, the carbon is captured by the tree and converted (oversimplification?) into wood (and other places like into the ground or trading it for nutrients with mycelium). This process translates to us humans, I think, in that we consume food and our bodies extract the vitamins, minerals, and other stuff to add on to our overall mass, and we expel the waste.

But in addition to mass, the food is also converted into energy for locomotion and such, right? What is that process like? Assuming the energy does come from the food we consume, what system inside us is a biomatter energy plant in that it accepts (what I’m assuming to be) carbs & fats as input and converts (extracts?) the energy and converts it to electricity?

In: 2

Answer 1

It’s quite a complicated system…but…

Have a look at a beginner’s presentation of the Krebs Cycle (KC). It’s at the center of the process.

Essentially, energy-containing chemicals (from food) enter the KC and produce a chemical, ATP, that is the actual thing that we “burn” inside our cells.

Sugars, fats, and proteins enter the KC and ATP comes out…we move and think and make love and stay warm…thank you ATP.

It’s fascinating, actually.