{"id":1258,"date":"2016-04-29T20:18:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T20:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/biologyxwaymakerxmaster\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=1258"},"modified":"2024-04-26T18:39:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T18:39:16","slug":"reading-the-first-law-of-thermodynamics","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/chapter\/reading-the-first-law-of-thermodynamics\/","title":{"raw":"The First Law of Thermodynamics","rendered":"The First Law of Thermodynamics"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Understand how the first law of thermodynamics applies to biological systems<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe first law of thermodynamics deals with the total amount of energy in the universe. It states that this total amount of energy is constant. In other words, there has always been, and always will be, exactly the same amount of energy in the universe. Energy exists in many different forms. According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy may be transferred from place to place or transformed into different forms, but it cannot be created or destroyed. The transfers and transformations of energy take place around us all the time. Light bulbs transform electrical energy into light energy. Gas stoves transform chemical energy from natural gas into heat energy. Plants perform one of the most biologically useful energy transformations on earth: that of converting the energy of sunlight into the chemical energy stored within organic molecules. Some examples of energy transformations are shown in Figure 1.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_4600\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"735\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-4600\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1087\/2016\/04\/14194913\/Figure_06_02_01.jpg\" alt=\"The left side of this diagram depicts energy being transferred from an ice cream cone to two boys riding a bike. The right side depicts a plant converting light energy into chemical energy.\" width=\"735\" height=\"650\" \/> Figure 1. Shown are two examples of energy being transferred from one system to another and transformed from one form to another. Humans can convert the chemical energy in food, like this ice cream cone, into kinetic energy (the energy of movement to ride a bicycle). Plants can convert electromagnetic radiation (light energy) from the sun into chemical energy. (credit \u201cice cream\u201d: modification of work by D. Sharon Pruitt; credit \u201ckids on bikes\u201d: modification of work by Michelle Riggen-Ransom; credit \u201cleaf\u201d: modification of work by Cory Zanker)[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe challenge for all living organisms is to obtain energy from their surroundings in forms that they can transfer or transform into usable energy to do work. Living cells have evolved to meet this challenge very well. Chemical energy stored within organic molecules such as sugars and fats is transformed through a series of cellular chemical reactions into energy within molecules of ATP. Energy in ATP molecules is easily accessible to do work. Examples of the types of work that cells need to do include building complex molecules, transporting materials, powering the beating motion of cilia or flagella, contracting muscle fibers to create movement, and reproduction.\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/5913d68e-29ac-41f1-a759-44b14f121636\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Outcomes<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Understand how the first law of thermodynamics applies to biological systems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>The first law of thermodynamics deals with the total amount of energy in the universe. It states that this total amount of energy is constant. In other words, there has always been, and always will be, exactly the same amount of energy in the universe. Energy exists in many different forms. According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy may be transferred from place to place or transformed into different forms, but it cannot be created or destroyed. The transfers and transformations of energy take place around us all the time. Light bulbs transform electrical energy into light energy. Gas stoves transform chemical energy from natural gas into heat energy. Plants perform one of the most biologically useful energy transformations on earth: that of converting the energy of sunlight into the chemical energy stored within organic molecules. Some examples of energy transformations are shown in Figure 1.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4600\" style=\"width: 745px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4600\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4600\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1087\/2016\/04\/14194913\/Figure_06_02_01.jpg\" alt=\"The left side of this diagram depicts energy being transferred from an ice cream cone to two boys riding a bike. The right side depicts a plant converting light energy into chemical energy.\" width=\"735\" height=\"650\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-4600\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure 1. Shown are two examples of energy being transferred from one system to another and transformed from one form to another. Humans can convert the chemical energy in food, like this ice cream cone, into kinetic energy (the energy of movement to ride a bicycle). Plants can convert electromagnetic radiation (light energy) from the sun into chemical energy. (credit \u201cice cream\u201d: modification of work by D. Sharon Pruitt; credit \u201ckids on bikes\u201d: modification of work by Michelle Riggen-Ransom; credit \u201cleaf\u201d: modification of work by Cory Zanker)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The challenge for all living organisms is to obtain energy from their surroundings in forms that they can transfer or transform into usable energy to do work. Living cells have evolved to meet this challenge very well. Chemical energy stored within organic molecules such as sugars and fats is transformed through a series of cellular chemical reactions into energy within molecules of ATP. Energy in ATP molecules is easily accessible to do work. Examples of the types of work that cells need to do include building complex molecules, transporting materials, powering the beating motion of cilia or flagella, contracting muscle fibers to create movement, and reproduction.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_5913d68e-29ac-41f1-a759-44b14f121636\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/5913d68e-29ac-41f1-a759-44b14f121636?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_5913d68e-29ac-41f1-a759-44b14f121636\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-1258\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Biology 2e. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-f14f21b5eabd@10.8\">http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-f14f21b5eabd@10.8<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/biology-2e\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":17,"menu_order":21,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Biology 2e\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/cnx.org\/contents\/185cbf87-c72e-48f5-b51e-f14f21b5eabd@10.8\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/biology-2e\/pages\/1-introduction\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"d1433b38-af6f-40bc-9c9a-11d968511c05, c1852bdf-2693-41c2-826e-d5d3f5df5b02","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-1258","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":43,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5870,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1258\/revisions\/5870"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/43"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1258\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-biology1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}