Biology
I noted a phenomena whereby when foods are consumed on a mass (weight) basis, the weight of the food is taken into account, the weight of the person and in 40 minutes the total weight of the individual is 4 pounds heavier than the combined amount of eaten foods and the original body weight. Most teachings within biology consider the organism to be a distinct entity. This is true in most respect but if this was the only case, there could not have been an additional 4 pounds. The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy states that matter and energy cannot be destroyed within a system. So the additional 4 pounds of matter had to have arisen from the environment of the person, incorporating inert matter into the living person in a manner that contained the life within the person. I would like to investigate this phenomena further and find out how it is done and if any usefullness can be acquired from such research. But to do this I would require the technical name that accurately describes the phenomena so that studyies towards the phenomena can be quickly directed to my attention. Please note that this indicates thermodynamics but it does not zero in on the nature of the phenomena. So if you could assist in giving me the technical name that accurately pertains to it, it would save much searching to get a directive for my research.
Dear Samuel, Thank you for submitting your question to AskNSDL. Although I'm not familiar with the phenomenon you described, I'm a reference librarian, and I can suggest search terms and ways of finding relevant materials. This is a rather lengthy response, which provides guides to searching and some specific resources. I've taken three approaches to finding information on your topic. 1. Search the National Science Digital Library,http://nsdl.org, for articles in "biochemical thermodynamics." You can vary your search terms, but in order to weed out irrelevant results, you'll probably have to be pretty specific and use phrases in quotation marks. Here's one result from the above search. Stoner, Clinton D. "Inquiries into the Nature of Free Energy and Entropy in Respect to Biochemical Thermodynamics." (2000). This article is published in the digital preprint repository, arXiv,http://www.arxiv.org and was later published in Entropy (2001). Subj-class: Physics Education; Biological Physics; Chemical Physics; Materials Science http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0004055 2. Browse/search the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), using this easy interface from Mississippi State University. I entered your basic term, thermodynamics, and retrieved listings of broader, narrower and related subject headings. How about: biochemistry, metabolism, and biotransformation (metabolism)? Knowing the subject headings will help conduct further searches in the National Science Digital Library (NSDL),http://nsdl.org, as well as the Web, using a general search engine, such as Google,http://www.google.com, or a clustering engine like Vivissimo,http://vivissimo.com. http://fantasia.cs.msstate.edu/lcshdb/index.cgi 3. Use the MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) browser to build search strategies for finding articles in PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's database of peer reviewed journal articles. I used several of the terms listed in the LCSH database to browse MeSH terms. For help with using MeSH, there are two tutorials here also. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=mesh For example, I used the MeSH browser to build a search strategy and locate the following articles. If these articles look pertinent, you can click on the "Medline" display to view additional metadata. I've provided the MeSH terms of the Medline display. Searched PubMed for: (weight OR mass) AND "Biochemical Phenomena, Metabolism, and Nutrition"[MeSH] AND "Thermodynamics"[MeSH] AND "Biogenesis" [MeSH]. There were 7 results. Here are two that look useful. Fujiwara, N. "Abstract Origin of the Scaling Rule for Fundamental Living Organisms Based on Thermodynamics." Biosystems 2003. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1275393 (MeSH Headings from the Medline Display) MH - Animals MH - Anthropometry/*methods MH - Biogenesis MH - Body Weight/*physiology MH - Comparative Study MH - Computer Simulation MH - Ecosystem MH - Energy Metabolism/*physiology MH - Energy Transfer/*physiology MH - Evolution MH - *Evolution, Molecular MH - Human MH - *Models, Biological MH - Plant Physiology MH - *Species Specificity MH - Temperature MH - Thermodynamics Reich JG, Sel'kov EE. "Time hierarchy, equilibrium and non-equilibrium in metabolic systems." Biosystems, 1975. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=1156673 (MeSH Headings from MedLine Display) MH - Biogenesis MH - Enzymes/*metabolism MH - Kinetics MH - Mathematics MH - Models, Biological MH - Protein Binding MH - Thermodynamics MH - Time Factors Here is another article abstract that I came across in a Google search: Grassman P. "Thermodynamics of life from the point of view of technical thermodynamics and exergy." Naturwissenschaften. 1984 Jul;71(7):335-41. (Article in German) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=6482977&dopt=Abstract MH - Animals MH - *Energy Metabolism MH - Energy Transfer MH - English Abstract MH - Mathematics MH - *Models, Biological MH - Temperature MH - *Thermodynamics Speaking of Google searches, I tried several, varying strategies and terms. Here are some that I used in different combinations: bioenergetics, thermodynamics, "biological thermodynamics", "biochemical thermodynamics". Here is a sampling of resources from Google searches. Haynie, Donald. "Biological Thermodynamics." Cambridge University Press, 2001. See fig1.10 on page 16. http://assets.cambridge.org/052179/1650/sample/0521791650WS.pdf Lumen, Jonathan I. Chapter 7 DRAFT: "Thermodynamic Foundations of Life," 2004. http://gould.as.arizona.edu/~mmeyer/origins/grad/lunine/Chapter7.pdf Fineman, Richard D. and Fine, Eugene I. "A Calorie is a Calorie Violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics." Nutrition Journal, July 2004, BioMed Central. http://www.health.utah.edu/nutr/6440.Calorie.not.a.Calorie.thermodynamics.pdf I hope this information is helpful to your research. Be sure to check with the librarian at your academic institution for further help locating resources in print and especially those that are available through their licensed databases. Sincerely, Joyce W. AskNSDL staff