Scribd
Upload
58 views10 pages

Gen Bio Part 2 Reporting

The document summarizes key concepts from thermodynamics and how they apply to biological systems. It discusses two main laws: 1) The first law of thermodynamics, or the law of conservation of energy, states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another. In biology, this means cells capture and transform energy from their environment to perform biological work. 2) The second law of thermodynamics, or the law of entropy, states that every system moves towards maximum disorder and unavailable energy over time. In living systems, some energy is lost as heat or becomes unavailable for work with each transfer or reaction.

Uploaded by

Mj Deguzman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
58 views10 pages

Gen Bio Part 2 Reporting

The document summarizes key concepts from thermodynamics and how they apply to biological systems. It discusses two main laws: 1) The first law of thermodynamics, or the law of conservation of energy, states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted from one form to another. In biology, this means cells capture and transform energy from their environment to perform biological work. 2) The second law of thermodynamics, or the law of entropy, states that every system moves towards maximum disorder and unavailable energy over time. In living systems, some energy is lost as heat or becomes unavailable for work with each transfer or reaction.

Uploaded by

Mj Deguzman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 10

Applying the Laws of

Thermodynamics in
Biology
GROUP 3 PRESENTATION
Thermodynamics
• The science deals with energy in
its various forms and the
conversion of one form of energy
into another
● It is the study of energy
relationships, transformations,
and exchanges that occur in a
collection of matter.
Laws of
Thermodynamics that
Govern Energy
Transformation in Cells
The first law of
thermodynamics
● Law of conservation of
energy this law was put
forward by Robert Mayer in
1941.
● This law declares that "
energy is neither created nor
destroyed in the universe and
it allows to be exchanged
between a system and its
Rudolf Mayer
surroundings".
Explanation of the first law
In biological terms, this law states that cells have no
way to produce new energy.

Energy must be captured from the environment, must


be temporarily stored, and then used to perform
biological work, which involves the transformation of
energy from one form to another.
Explanation of the first law
• Light is a form of energy. It can be transformed in to
work, heat or potential energy of food, depending on
the situation, but none of it is destroyed.
• Plants convert light energy from the sun into high
energy compounds that help to build cell material.
• When animals eat plants, their stomach and intestines
break down the compounds for further use.
Second law of
thermodynamics
● Also called law of the degradation of
energy or law of entropy.
● This law was developed in 1850s by
German Physicist Rudolf Clausius.
● This law states that a system and its
surroundings always proceed to a
state of maximum disorder or
maximum entropy.

Julius Robert Mayer


Explanation of second law
• Living systems are ordered, while the natural
tendency of the universe is to move toward systems of
disorder with unavailable energy.
• The second law is an important indicator of the
direction of the reaction.
• All reactions proceed in a direction with increase in
entropy and decrease in free energy.
Explanation of second law
- As with other biological processes, the transfer of
energy is not 100 percent efficient.

-Not all of the enthalpy (H), or total energy, can be used


for work; at every step, some inevitably become
converted to heat and are dispersed back to the
surroundings—some of the energy becomes unavailable
to do work. 
Thank You!
By: Group 3

You might also like