energy conservation and transformation

[jimmyjammy]

i am not a bio(major) but i have a doubt:: when we climb a flight of stairs obviously we are putting ourselves in a higher gravitational potential and hence higher energy state. so, we need to expend some sort of biochemical energy and hence feel a bit tired. but, when we get down even we feel tired(not that much) and according to me we even expend energy in this case.now, again considering the gravitational potential energy, we now need to gain gravitational potential energy(consider that we climb up and down the stairs with the same velocity so no change in kinetic energy)1. isn't this a violation of the energy conservation?? if not, then let me know how our cells/muscles store the potential energy gained by climbing down??

Edited June 16, 2013 by jimmyjammy

[Ophiolite]

We do not gain potential energy by climbing down. We lose potential energy because we are now at a lower level. We also lose biochemical energy, which we have expended to operate our muscles when we walked down.

[jimmyjammy]

@ophiolite::my notion on gaining energy means--if we throw a ball up at the highest point it has max. energy(potential energy)which we are supplying while throwing and when it comes down it comes with the same energy(albeit energy now being kinetic).......so the energy that we supply is recovered now in the form of kinetic energy/force of the ball . similar case with our cells..where is the energy gain going finally??

[Ophiolite]

There is no energy gain. When we climb the stairs we gain potential energy, but we do it at the expense of biochemical energy to operate our muscles and maintain our body's metabolism. That generates waste heat which we get rid of in various ways. When we go back down the stairs the potential energy aids us in our descent, but we still need to use biochemical energy to maintain balance, move forwards, etc. Once more waste heat is generated.

[AriePiron]

Energy consumption and transformation is form of process by which the energy is consumed from different source it may be from environment and other useful things.So its transformation is from different sources by physical or due to other measures.

[AriePiron]

Transformation of energy into useful work is a core topic of thermodynamics. In nature, transformations of energy can be fundamentally classed into two kinds: those that are thermodynamicallyreversible, and those that are thermodynamically irreversible.

[AriePiron]

The production and consumption of food is currently raising a host of issues of enormous public and regulatory concern. This can be seen in the extensive media

coverage devoted to food and topics such as healthy eating and obesity, pesticide residues, carbon footprints, packaging and waste, and labour standards abuses in supply chains.

[AriePiron]

On a small scale we as human beings tend to throw our glass ware that is broken, get rid of metal pieces that are no use to us and throw away the plastic material that has been lying redundant in our homes from a long time.

[AriePiron]

The law of conservation of energy states that when one form of energy is transformed to another, no energy is destroyed in the process. According to the law of conservation of energy, energy cannot be created or destroyed. So the total amount of energy is the same before and after any transformation.

[AriePiron]

The energy which is disputed or given never be gained again .Energy can only be transferred from one form of energy is transformed to another.So the total amount of energy is always remains same.

[AriePiron]

The lasers that are used in telecom, medicine, manufacturing and consumer electronics all function through a process called stimulated emission. A burst of light or electricity injects energy into a sea of atoms, causing the atoms’ electrons to jump up in energy as they swirl around the nucleus.

[AriePiron]

Wave contain electromagnetic fields. Electromagnetic field is in which electronic & magnetic field contain normal to each other. These field carry energy with themm. Hence waves