11 EQUILIBRIUM Flashcards
What does the Surface Law state?
As the volume of an object grows, its relative surface area decreases.
How does the Surface Law affect heat loss in creatures?
The more surface area relative to volume, the harder it is to stay warm.
How many heartbeats does a mouse have per minute compared to an elephant?
A mouse’s heart beats six hundred times a minute, while an elephant’s heart beats just thirty times a minute.
What percentage of their body weight do mice need to consume daily?
About 50 percent of their own body weight.
What is the average number of heartbeats in a lifetime for most animals?
About 800 million heartbeats.
How does human heartbeats in a lifetime compare to other animals?
Humans have about 1.6 billion heartbeats, as we continue to beat after 800 million at around twenty-five years.
What is the energy usage comparison between mammals and reptiles?
A typical mammal uses about thirty times as much energy in a day as a typical reptile.
What is the normal human body temperature?
98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
What is homeostasis?
Maintaining equilibrium within the body.
Who coined the term homeostasis?
Walter Bradford Cannon.
What did Walter Bradford Cannon’s research primarily focus on?
The autonomic nervous system and bodily responses to pain, hunger, fear, and rage.
What chemical is responsible for energy in cells?
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
How much ATP does the human body produce and consume daily?
About the equivalent of one’s body weight in ATP.
What is the significance of Peter Mitchell in biochemistry?
He proposed a hypothesis about ATP that was initially dismissed but later led to his Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
What happens to body temperature in the case of a fever?
It elevates beyond normal, but the exact purpose is not fully understood.
Fill in the blank: The brain regulates body temperature through the _______.
hypothalamus.
True or False: Most heat loss occurs through the top of the head.
False.
What is the relationship between body temperature and energy requirements?
Raising body temperature by 3–4 degrees Fahrenheit increases energy requirements by about 20 percent.
What did Charles Blagden’s experiments demonstrate?
The role of perspiration in cooling the body.
What extraordinary ability does the body have according to Cannon?
The ability to regulate itself.
What did Cannon’s book ‘The Wisdom of the Body’ outline?
The body’s extraordinary ability to regulate itself.
What does the term ‘fight or flight’ refer to?
The survival response involving adrenaline.
Fill in the blank: The electrical activity within cells generates about _______ volts per meter.
thirty million.
What is the significance of ATP in the context of cellular function?
It stores and releases energy necessary for cellular activities.
What did J. B. S. Haldane’s essay ‘On Being the Right Size’ discuss?
How size affects the weight and physical characteristics of organisms.
Who suggested that Mitchell should be as famous as Watson and Crick?
Nick Lane
What does the surface law dictate about size?
It dictates how big we can get.
What would happen to a human scaled up to the height of the giants in Gulliver’s Travels?
They would weigh 280 tons, but their bones would be only three hundred times thicker.
Why do small bugs survive falls without harm?
Their small size means they are scarcely affected by gravity.
How much force does a child half the height of an adult experience when falling?
One thirty-second the force of impact that a grown person would feel.
What is the maximum height from which few grown humans can survive a fall?
Twenty-five or thirty feet.
What unusual survival story is mentioned about a British airman during World War II?
Nicholas Alkemade survived a fall from three miles above the ground.
What did Nicholas Alkemade experience while falling?
He felt suspended in space and composed.
What miraculous event occurred to Vesna Vulović in 1972?
She survived a fall of 33,000 feet when her plane broke up in midair.
What can be said about the human body’s resilience?
The human body can be wonderfully resilient.
What happened to Erika Nordby in Edmonton, Alberta?
She was found alive after her heart had stopped for at least two hours.
What is a significant risk for children left in cars in warm weather?
They can die swiftly due to high temperatures.
How many children died in the U.S. between 1998 and August 2018 from being left in hot cars?
Almost eight hundred.
What percentage of Earth’s land area can humans live on?
About 12 percent.
What is the altitude of the highest permanent settlements in the world?
17,500 feet in the Andes.
What illness do residents of high altitudes like La Paz sometimes suffer from?
Monge’s disease.
What altitude do airlines typically pressurize cabins to?
Forty-nine hundred feet to seventy-nine hundred feet.
What happened to Payne Stewart’s Learjet in October 1999?
It lost pressurization and all aboard blacked out.
What type of experiments were conducted on military prisoners during WWII?
Experiments to determine human physiological limitations.
What was Unit 731 known for?
Conducting horrific experiments on prisoners to study human limits.
How many people are estimated to have died as a result of experiments at Unit 731?
As many as 250,000.
What did the Japanese and German experiments contribute to?
Understanding of microbiology, nutrition, and the effects of nerve gases.
What was the fate of Shiro Ishii after the war?
He was granted immunity in exchange for sharing knowledge with American captors.
What shocking fact is mentioned about the celebration at a psychiatric hospital in Hadamar?
They celebrated the putting to death of their ten thousandth cognitively deficient person.
