Usually this means grabbing it from the sun or breaking down large molecules and releasing the energy in them. Plants and photosynthetic microbes convert light from the sun into high energy compounds that help to build cell material. Figure 1 - Energy from the sun. Figure 2 - Energy from a bagel. The second law of thermodynamics In all processes or reactions, some of the energy involved irreversibly loses its ability to do work.
Organisms are in a constant battle with entropy and when they finally lose the war, they die.
All chemical reactions can be describe by the following equation. D H - T D S Think about this for a moment. Note how the system becomes more disorganized by the action of amylase. If the above graphic is a shockwave animation, click on the button below to get the latest player. If the above graphic is a Quicktime animation, Go to Apple's web site to get the latest player.