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Students encounter a source of possible confusion between the terminology of physics and biology. Whereas the thermodynamic terms " exothermic " and " endothermic " respectively refer to processes that give out heat energy and processes that absorb heat energy, in biology the sense is effectively reversed.
An endothermic process may be a chemical process, such as dissolving ammonium nitrate (NH 4 NO 3) in water (H 2 O), or a physical process, such as the melting of ice cubes. [5] The opposite of an endothermic process is an exothermic process, one that releases or "gives out" energy, usually in the form of heat and sometimes as electrical energy. [1]
The opposite of an exothermic process is an endothermic process, one that absorbs energy, usually in the form of heat. [2] The concept is frequently applied in the physical sciences to chemical reactions where chemical bond energy is converted to thermal energy (heat).
A significant proportion of creatures commonly referred to as "warm-blooded," like birds and mammals, exhibit all three of these categories (i.e., they are endothermic, homeothermic, and tachymetabolic). However, over the past three decades, investigations in the field of animal thermophysiology have unveiled numerous species within these two ...
[2] A strongly exothermic reaction will usually also be exergonic because ΔH⚬ makes a major contribution to ΔG⚬. Most of the spectacular chemical reactions that are demonstrated in classrooms are exothermic and exergonic. The opposite is an endothermic reaction, which usually takes up heat and is driven by an entropy increase in the system.
Endotherms cannot, in general, afford such long periods without food, but suitably adapted ectotherms can wait without expending much energy. Endothermic vertebrate species are therefore less dependent on the environmental conditions and have developed a higher variability (both within and between species) in their daily patterns of activity. [11]
The reaction is usually endothermic as heat is required to break chemical bonds in the compound undergoing decomposition. If decomposition is sufficiently exothermic, a positive feedback loop is created producing thermal runaway and possibly an explosion or other chemical reaction. Thermal decomposition is a chemical reaction where heat is a ...
Many endothermic plant species rely on alternative oxidase (AOX), which is an enzyme in the mitochondria organelle and is a part of the electron transport chain. [9] The reduction of mitochondrial redox potential by alternative oxidase increases unproductive respiration.