Post created by: Leiticia
Losing weight is one of the popular topics that we do not finish a day without hearing about it, but we are not noticed the big role physics plays during this process. We have learned in class the law of conservation of energy which is “The total energy that is constant in any process. It may change in form or be transferred from one system to another, but the total remains the same” (College physics). We have learned two major mechanical energies, one the potential energy and two kinetic energy on the top of that we learned that the energy gets transferred via a work done.
When we eat, the food goes to the stomach where it metabolism and transforms to fat. The fat stored energy in our body, it protects our organs and keeps us warm, however it adds a weight to our body. John W. Hill said “An important chemical principle with interesting application is the law of conservation of energy. If energy is conserved, why do we have an energy crisis? Some of us have a personal energy crisis. We eat so much food and exercise so little that the excess energy taken in is stored in fat deposits for possible future use. The law of conservation of energy is also interesting to those who diet to lose weight” (Hill). We store a lot of energy from our food and when we cannot use it by exercising or doing a work, it becomes a problem to our health.
If we want to lose weight G. Brooks and T. Fahey in their book Exercise Physiology had calculated that “If a person want to lose one pound of fat, he/she needs to hike to the top of a 2,500-story building, or running 60 miles or spend seven hours cleaning animal stalls” (Muller). When we hike, run or cleaning we are doing a work that allow our body to burn energy stored as fat and release heat or sweet. As we know that work equal to force apply to a body multiple by the distance (w=F.d). The more we work up the more our body metabolism the fat stored, it changes forms and get release it as heat. We are losing weight because we burn or transfer the energy store in our body to a different form of energy. The energy is conserved.
Work cited
Hill, John W. “Weight-Loss Diets and the Law of Conservation of Energy.” Journal of Chemical Education, vol. 58, no. 12, 1981, p. 996., doi:10.1021/ed058p996.1.
Muller, Richard A. “The Physics Diet.” MIT Technology Review, MIT Technology Review, 22 Oct. 2012, www.technologyreview.com/s/402293/the-physics-diet/.
OpenStax College Physics, and Rice University. “Conservation of Energy.” College Physics, 23 Jan. 2012, opentextbc.ca/physicstestbook2/chapter/conservation-of-energy/.
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