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Students encounter a source of possible confusion between the terminology of physics and biology. Whereas the thermodynamic terms " exothermic " and " endothermic " respectively refer to processes that give out heat energy and processes that absorb heat energy, in biology the sense is effectively reversed.
The opposite of an endothermic process is an exothermic process, one that releases or "gives out" energy, usually in the form of heat and sometimes as electrical energy. [1] Thus, endo in endothermic refers to energy or heat going in, and exo in exothermic refers to energy or heat going out. In each term (endothermic and exothermic) the prefix ...
Biological thermodynamics (Thermodynamics of biological systems) is a science that explains the nature and general laws of thermodynamic processes occurring in living organisms as nonequilibrium thermodynamic systems that convert the energy of the Sun and food into other types of energy. The nonequilibrium thermodynamic state of living ...
A significant proportion of creatures commonly referred to as "warm-blooded," like birds and mammals, exhibit all three of these categories (i.e., they are endothermic, homeothermic, and tachymetabolic). However, over the past three decades, investigations in the field of animal thermophysiology have unveiled numerous species within these two ...
The reaction is usually endothermic as heat is required to break chemical bonds in the compound undergoing decomposition. If decomposition is sufficiently exothermic, a positive feedback loop is created producing thermal runaway and possibly an explosion or other chemical reaction. Thermal decomposition is a chemical reaction where heat is a ...
Endothermic organisms known as homeotherms maintain internal temperatures with minimal metabolic regulation within a range of ambient temperatures called the thermal neutral zone (TNZ). Within the TNZ the basal rate of heat production is equal to the rate of heat loss to the environment. Homeothermic organisms adjust to the temperatures within ...
Many endothermic plant species rely on alternative oxidase (AOX), which is an enzyme in the mitochondria organelle and is a part of the electron transport chain. [9] The reduction of mitochondrial redox potential by alternative oxidase increases unproductive respiration.
Respirometry depends on a "what goes in must come out" principle. [6] Consider a closed system first. Imagine that we place a mouse into an air-tight container. The air sealed in the container initially contains the same composition and proportions of gases that were present in the room: 20.95% O 2, 0.04% CO 2, water vapor (the exact amount depends on air temperature, see dew point), 78% ...