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Human Power For Human Upgrades

Posted by timothy on from the earth-for-the-humans dept.

Dozix007 writes "The human body, like any other machine requires energy to operate. However, during operation we release residual heat which can be used for power. Many people who rely on pacemakers and other artifical devices in their bodies may recieve 'upgrades' to avert the many surgeries per. year to replace dead and dying batteries. Not quite the Matrix yet, but we are getting there."

4 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. Duplicate by jkakar · · Score: 2, Informative

    This is a dupe from a couple days ago... still a semi-interesting read if you missed it.

  2. The Human Body Is An Endothermic Reaction. by dnahelix · · Score: 1, Informative

    Although we generate heat, on a microscopic level, our bodies need more energy put in that it can give out. All the food you eat requires energy put in to be produced and we get that energy out of the food. If any significant portion of that energy were drained, our bodies would have problems and eventually shut down. The heat from our bodies is generated collectively from individual cellular mitochondria.

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    1. Re:The Human Body Is An Endothermic Reaction. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      "Although we generate heat, on a microscopic level, our bodies need more energy put in that it can give out."

      Duh! Its amazing how often people speak of the second law of thermodynamics: In order to keep the entropy of our bodies constant heat must be rejected from the system (it is a machine operating in a cycle after all) and no conversion of energy from one form to another on a macroscopic scale can be 100% efficient unless the second form is heat.

  3. The Human Body as a Heat Engine by bd005 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, yes, and this is why, fundamentally, the Matrix doesn't really make sense.

    But I really doubt the 100 microwatts of power they are trying for will be significant enough to be noticed--your body gives off about 100 watts of radiation as it is.