how might heat-producing reactions that do occur in organisms benefit them?

Answer 1

1) By producing heat, organisms can stay active throughout the cold winter months, thereby allowing them to breed and claim new habitats. They can also feed on the slower, cold-blooded creatures!

2) Warm-blooded animals can stay more active during night time hours - an advantage for many of the same reasons in (1).

3) Warm-blooded animals can change their metabolisms much faster than can cold-blooded animals. This allows them to adapt to environments and to increase their range. Cold-blooded animals are much slower to adapt to changing environmental conditions.

4) Exothermic reactions within the body allow for greater metabolic efficiency. Therefore, warm-blooded animals get greater benefit from the food that they eat, or conversely, do not need to eat as often to get their nutrional requirements. This gives them an evolutionary advantage in terms of what they can eat and the ability to thrive during famine.

Answer 2

In a word, gravity is the source of the heat and pressure needed to start and maintain nuclear fusion within the core of a star. To star nuclear fusion, hydrogen nuclei must be forced to move around so rapidly that when they hit each other, they fuse together instead of bouncing off each other. A bare hydrogen nucleus is positively charged, and two positively charged particles repel each other. But if they can be forced close enough to each other, they will combine into a heavier helium nucleus and release vast amounts of energy. Gravity is the force that makes this possible. It wants to collapse the star, but as the atoms in it get crowded together, they bounce off each other, and move about at a higher and higher velocity within the star, creating very high internal pressures and temperatures. In other words, as a gas is compressed, it heats up in the same manner as air that passes through a compressor does. If the mass is sufficient, eventually a collapsing proto star starts nuclear fusion and becomes a self-luminous star. Gravitational compression of the Sun's interior continued until nuclear fusion started in a violent outburst, causing the star to abruptly expand then contract until the inward pull of gravity reached a state of equilibrium with the outward pressure created by heat produced through nuclear fusion. From that point on, gravity keeps the Sun interior hot and dense enough for nuclear fusion to continue as long as there is fuel to sustain it. It serves to hold the star together and it serves to confine the fusing hydrogen so stable nuclear reactions can be maintained. Without the confining force of gravity, the Sun and other stars will then become gigantic hydrogen bombs that blow themselves apart the moment nuclear fusion begins.

Answer 3

Dispels unnecessary energy which may actually cause damage if allowed to remain. Small example: dogs pant to maintain correct body temperature. As they get into a safe range, the panting decreases or stops.

Opposite example: As we get too cold, our extremities feel it first, because our body is trying to keep major organs going, sacrificing the less important parts.

Awesome design characterisitcs in all living organisms.

Answer 4

some of the benefits of thermogenic reactions in humans are that heat speeds up the breakdown of fat cells in the mitochondria, the metabolism is sped up, and that allows us to process our food more effectively and burn calories quickly. heat producing reactions allow us to process liquids better as well, they aid cellular hydration, maintaining the balance of water in the body b/w how much is intra-cellular (inside the cells) and how much is extra-cellular (outside the cells). production of heat within muscle fibers aids the release of lactic acids which then promotes muscular density.. or just getting thicker and stronger muscle fibers.. from what i know, heat is good. very good.

Answer 5

because those reactions do not produce heat, but energy for living processes!

Answer 6

Keeps them from freezing.

Answer 7

Because sometimes it gets cold outside and you need to stay nice and warm. :)

Answer 8

Keep them warm enough to live!