Energy and Life: Transfer and Conversion of Energy in Muscle Contraction

Abstract

All living things on Earth need energy to support survival, movement, growth and repair. However, it is not very clear how energy functions in a specific life activity. In this paper, it will use human muscle contraction as an example to explain where energy comes from, how it flows into the human body, and how it is transferred and converted in human body to supply energy for muscle contraction. The whole process can be divided into transfer and conversion of energy. For energy transfer, energy from light can be captured directly by autotrophs in the biosphere and flows to heterotrophs through predation relationship. For energy conversion, the conversion between chemical energy, electrical energy and mechanical energy occurs during muscle contraction. This paper combines biology, chemistry and physics to show how the relationship between energy and life supports living activities from a multidisciplinary perspective, which will help people to have a deeper understanding for the relationship between energy flow and life.