Definition of Chemical Energy
Miscellanea / / November 13, 2021
By Florencia Ucha, in Nov. 2010
The Energy Chemistry is another of the manifestations of energy and specifically it is the internal energy that a certain body and although it can always be found in matter, it will only be shown to us when there is a significant alteration of is. Putting it in simpler terms, chemical energy is that which is produced by chemical reactions.
Among the most everyday examples that we can give of chemical energy are: the energy that emanates from coal when it burns, batteries, batteries, among others.
Chemical energy is one of the many forms that energy has. It is also worth noting that this type of energy is always present in matter, as it will manifest itself when there is a specific modification of it.
So, chemical energy is the that produce the chemical reactions that give off heat, or failing that, by the violence who manifest, develop some type of movement or work.
Once burned fuels produce violent chemical reactions that generate work or movement. At present, chemical energy is that which allows the mobilization of automobiles, ships, airplanes and any other machine. For example, the combustion of coal, oil and firewood in steam engines as well as derivatives of petroleum in the very small space of a cylinder of an internal combustion engine, have reactions Chemicals.
On the other hand, coal and gasified gasoline combine with the oxygen in the air, react with it and manage to transform slowly and gently, as in the case of coal, or instantaneously and abruptly in the case of gasoline inside the cylinders of the engines; the flaming gaseous mixtures expand and in just an instant they will be communicating their energy to the engine pistons.
For an engine to start it will require fuel that once reacted it will release energy. In internal combustion engines the energy of the fuel used is transformed into power and movement and that It is precisely the force that is used to operate a vehicle, the propeller of a helicopter, a generator, among others.
Food, chemical energy in our body
Food can also be taken as a clear example of chemical energy, since once they are processed by the body they will offer us heat (calories) or they will become Energy sources natural (protein and vitamins).
In addition, these foods will be essential when it comes to forming and renewing the tissues of our body, to maintain the temperature or to allow us to perform a muscular exercise.
Because food has nutrients such as carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins and lipids, formally called biogenetic , for having an organic origin. Meanwhile, inorganic nutrients are water and some minerals such as sodium, sulfur, phosphorus, zinc, manganese, and chlorine, among others.
Now, the energy that the organisms can occur in two ways: autotrophic or heterotrophic. While the former is the typical nutrition of plants and algae, which from carbon dioxide and the energy of the sun will generate glucose and oxygen, the second, by their On the other hand, it is that of the animal organisms and the human being that ingest the food that has been previously prepared, normally by organisms autotrophs, and meanwhile, it will be its cells that will oxidize it by perspiration and thus produce water vapor, carbon dioxide and substances of waste.
And one of the most recent and spectacular applications of chemical energy has undoubtedly been in regard to, on the one hand, the journey of back and forth to outer space and the moon and on the other hand the installation of various types of artificial satellites in orbits. For a long time it was a utopia but today it is possible thanks to this type of energy. With this we discover the importance that this type of energy has in the development of various human activities and actions that tend to search for novelties.
Topics in Chemical Energy