In fact, we think that the energy that powers our body belongs entirely to us. According to this logic, when we die, the energy accumulated in our bodies should also disappear. However, at this point, science states that we do not own the energy, but the energy owns us.
“How?” If you are one of those who say, let’s clarify the question of what happens to the energy in our body after death.
Currently, the human body consists of matter and energy.
This energy in our body is both electrical (signals and impulses) and chemical (reactions). In fact, the same applies to plants, which enable the production of energy from sunlight and are supported by the process of photosynthesis.
But the energy production process in humans is much more complex. For example, imagine that at any given moment there is 20 watts of energy flowing through your body, enough to power a light bulb.
This energy is obtained in many different ways, and it is generally possible to get this power from foods that provide chemical energy. The chemical energy is then converted into kinetic energy and used to power the muscles.
As we are generally familiar with from thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed. It just changes situations.
Again, the total amount of energy in an isolated system cannot change. Thanks to Einstein, we can say that matter and energy are two rungs of the same ladder, so to speak.
The universe as a whole is closed, but the human body and other ecosystems are open systems. In other words, we can exchange energy with our environment. We can gain energy through chemical processes and lose it by expelling waste or emitting heat.
Let’s talk about what happens to the energy in the body after death.
After a person dies, the energy in his body goes to the environment, where the energy of all organisms goes after death. When a person dies, the energy stored in his body is released in the form of heat and is transferred to the creatures (worms, bacteria, etc.) and plants that eat us when we are buried. When the body is burned, this energy is released in the form of heat and light.
When we eat dead animals or plants, we consume their energy and, in a sense, transform it for our own use. Foods are metabolized as they are digested; Chemical reactions release the energy needed for living things to live, move and reproduce. This energy exists in the form of heat energy and chemical energy.
While it is true that metabolic processes in humans and other organisms produce very low-level electrical currents, their production stops when the organism dies.
Electric current stops because the source of energy disappears. This situation can be thought of as a bulb going out when the electricity is turned off. It takes years for the energy left behind by a dead person to return to the environment as nutrition, in a sense. The remaining energy dissipates shortly after death and cannot be found even years later.
Our other content on physics and energy:
4377
