Yesterday I read something unusual in my biology book. Here it is: "It is often said that a person 'burns' up his food or 'burns' off fat. These expressions are not merely figures of speech; they are accurate. The food is combined with oxygen for the release of energy, almost as if the food had been set on fire. The difference, which prevents a person from cooking himself as he digests his dinner, is a complex system of organic catalysts."
Oh me oh my! Has it ever occurred to you that without these vital catalysts we could all be dead meat, literally speaking? Somehow the proposition of cooking oneself seems an extraoridinary one. I recently finished reading Robinson Crusoe, so I kind of have cannibals in my mind. I suppose if any of the cannibals in South America had been really smart, they would have removed these catalysts and fed their victims, saving themselves the problem of cooking their dinner. What a morbid thought. . .
But thank the Lord for our organic catalysts!
1 comment:
AMEN! THANK GOD FOR CATALYSTS...but I don't think they keep us from burning up. Actually, what really happens (as far as I understand it) is this: the zillions of chemical reactions that are EXTREMELY necessary for life -- reactions involved in digestion, muscle movements, DNA reproduction, etc. -- these reactions all require a great deal of heat energy in order to take place....under normal conditions, that is. The catalysts make it so that your body can function without being hot to start with, not without becoming hot. They lower not the actual temperature but the required temperature. Therefore, if it weren't for the catalysts, you wouldn't burn up; you'd just die. (Thank the Lord for the organic catalysts!)
I think I've just proved why I'll never write science textbooks for a living.
By the way, does this mean you've already started school? You smart girl, you. I haven't started my new subjects yet, but I'm still working on Chemistry from LAST year (hence my knowledge of catalysts; I learned about them last week!)
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