. How does energy flow through the biosphere? Where does it come from and how many trophic levels can it pass?
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The solar constant for Earth is sc = 1360 W / m2 = 1.36 GW / km2 [1]. Assuming that the radius of the Earth is RE = 6,366 km then the total rate of energy flow (power) on Earth is equal to: \n\n\nPE = sc    RE2  1.7  108 GW (1) \n\nSome of this energy accumulates in the Biosphere, but most of it is radiated back to space in the form of electromagnetic radiation. \n\nThe temperature of the Sun's surface is TS  5800 K. Assuming that the Sun is a black body at temperature TS = 5800 K and that all of the energy impinging on Earth from Sun is radiated back into space in the form of black body radiation it can be shown that the Earth black body temperature TE is [1] : \n\n\nTE = (0.25) 1 / 4  (RS / RSE) 1 / 2  TS  280 K (or  7oC) (2) \n\nwhere: RS  7  108 m - radius of the Sun, RSE  1.5  1011 m - average Sun-Earth distance \n\nThe Sun is the major energy source for Earth. Geothermal energy is comparatively minor, since ice caps formed on the Earth's Poles where the average intensity of the Sun's radiation is low.
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Biomass is lumps of dead things.\nThe dead things were either plants or animals that ate plants (or animals that ate animals that ate plants).\n\nThe biomass could be burned to release heat and light.\nOr the biomass could be fermented to produce methane which could be burned to release heat and light.\nEither way, energy is available from biomass.\n\nIn the simplest case, say a plant being burned (logs for instance), from where did the plant get all that energy?
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The sources of energy to animals (including humans) are carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins.  Carbohydrates include sugars, starches, and cellulose.\nHumans can digest proteins, lipids, sugars and starches, but not cellulose.  So, we can get energy by eating plants (or parts of plants) that contain proteins, lipids, sugars, and/or starches.  We can't get energy from sources that only have cellulose.  For instance, we don't get any energy from celery or lettuce, though we can get vitamins and minerals, maybe some other nutrients also.  \nRabbits, horses, and cattle eat large amounts of plants containing cellulose as the main energy source.  They carry microorganisms in their intestines that help them digest the cellulose, breaking it down into sugars.  Some microorganisms further process these into proteins.  However, humans don't host this kind of microorganism.
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The mass of the Earth is the same, regardless of the population.  Everything that humans are made of originally came from the Earth, and from various organisms and processes that changed those minerals and resources into molecules and organs.  Then, when we die, we are eaten or decompose and return those atoms/minerals/molecules to the Earth (or back into the food chain).  So as long as we live and die here planetary mass is unchanged, regardless of birth/death ratios or population flux.\n\nIf we were to colonize space or other planets (ie, leave the Earth) then we would be taking mass AWAY from the planet and therefore reducing the total Earthly mass.\n\nDaiwong- energy cannot BECOME mass, it can only be the catalyst for the formation of massive objects, such as energy from the sun powering the reactions which cause plants to grow.  The energy doesn't BECOME the plant, it merely provides the power for the plant to create more of itself from the nutrients it gets from rainfall and the soil.
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In a sense, the biosphere (the "layer" of the planet that includes all living beings) is a living creature. It's a complex biological system and it has homeostatic (balance-keeping) mechanisms that maintain life as we know it, while it continues to evolve.\nJames Lovelock, an environmentalist and researcher, is the author of the "Gaia Theory". In the 1970s he proposed the hypothesis that the Earth behaves as if it were a superorganism, made up from all the living things and their non-living environment. He argued that many global phenomena are controlled by the interaction of biological, chemical and physical processes. \nIn this sense, the Earth (Gaia, the name of the Greek goddess of the Earth) is alive. Lovelock's ideas have contributed a new view to the study of biosphere complexity. Read "The ages of Gaia" if you can, it's an enjoyable book! \nEven if you don't agree with this idea, I think it's beautiful, and could help people to realize the importance of taking care of our planet.
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The metabolism of most living things involves creating energy or ATP from the catabolism of carbohydrates, primarily monosaccharides.   The primary source of carbohydrates in food comes from the plant kingdom.  Plants use the sun's energy to convert CO2 and H2O into carbohydrates.  So, indirectly the majority of energy produced by all living things originates from the energy of the sun.
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Simple answer: Carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse gases" get caught up in the upper levels of earth's atmosphere. When rays from the sun enter earth's atmosphere they pass through to the earth's surface and are supposed to reflect off the earth back into space but do not because the greenhouse gases trap them in the atmosphere.  This causes the earth to heat up due to the cosmic radiation in these rays.
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Normally the particles (let us call them solutes for now) move from where they are more in concentration to where there are less solute particles in solution. This is just diffusion. This is some kind of standard stuff ALL THINGS MOVE FROM HEIGHTS to DEPTHS!! no more energy is required for this.\n\nBUT there are many more things in life which need to go against this principle and this is where the cell needs to spend energy ATP may be.. So when some particles are actively transported what it means is that energy is spent to do something against the concentration gradient. If it wants to bring more K+ ions into a cell which already has heaps when compared to the outside it needs to spend energy, There are many reasons why it may want to do it.. ... may be it wants to accumulate stuff for later (store glucose)..\n\n ..\nhope that helps,,,
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The sun is the earth's largest source of reliable energy.  Plants have green leaves that absorb and trap sunlight and convert that light into chemical energy; namely starches that other animals eat.\n\nThe sunlight is converted to starches by chlorophyll, a green substance in the leaves of green plants.  Carbon dioxide gas molecules (CO2) in our atmosphere is combined into sugar; sugar is combined into starches.  Wood is a form of starch called cellulose.\n\nSecondly, water is "split" (chopped into three pieces) releasing oxygen (gas) by photosynthesis.  So plants provide us oxygen by "splitting" water; and plants provide us sugar by "fixing" carbon dioxide.  We eat the plants or we animals that eat the plants.  This is how we get our energy.\n\nSo, cows are animals that eat grass; in so doing they gather sugar energy and live.  We eat cows, for example.  Or, certain insects eat plants; some fish eat those insects and then we eat the fish...so on and so forth.
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Heat energy.\n\nThere is water (or a water mixture) cooling the core directly.  This water is radioactive.  You then have coils running in the water which have other water (protected from the radiation) coursing through them.  This water gets the heat transfered to it and turns to steam.  The steam runs turbines that turn a magnet core in the center of a copper coil that in turn produces electricity.\n\nHope this answers it for ya, feel free to email me!
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Body energy, necessary for breath, motion, heartbeat, thinking, and all that, comes from food. Chiefly from two components of food, in fact. Carbohydrates are made of carbon and hydrogen (sugars, starches, etc), and fats (oils) which are more complex shemically (butter, olive oil, etc).\n\nTo produce the energy cells need in the form they need it, to do their function, these are burned (in a clever and flameless way) indside the cell. The end products of complete oxidation are carbon dioxide and water. The oxygen necessary comes from air, through the lungs. \n\nThe more energy your muscles need (because of exercise) the more fuel is burned and the more carbon dioxide and water is produced. The carbon dioxide is exhaled (through the lungs) and the water is excreted by the kidneys. Both are carried by the blood from the muscles to the lungs or kidneys as needed. \n\nSo the more your exercise, the faster you breath and the more oxygen you take in and the more carbon dioxide you exhale. If you run for one hour, you'll produce a certain amount of carbon dioxide and if you run for 2 hours you'll produce just about twice as much. but, even if you're sleeping, you'll still produce carbon dioxide for many parts of your body still have to do some work even if you're not running around. Your heart still beats, your brain still works (dreams, maybe) and you still stay about the same temperature. All that takes energy, just not so much as you need when you're running. \n\nAnother source of carbon dioxide, a much bigger source than humans running around on a soccer field, or a baseball diamond, is burning fossil fuels. Gasoline, diesel fuel, coal, heating oil, ... all produce carbon dioxide and water (and heat) as exhaust products. All that carbon dioxide being put into the air is one of the causes, most people think the major cause, of the rise in average temperature on the Earth. This is the global warming that's been in the news.
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only energy is transferred.  Think about it - if you're in the  ocean and a wave comes by, you bob up and down but aren't swept away.
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Each ecosystem has what is called a "carrying capacity" for the organisms. This is where birth rate = deaths.\n\nThis is because organism's grow in number until the demand or limit of one (or more) factors for life become exceeded.\n\nSome factors are things like water, living space, nutrient source (food) and waste build up.\n\nPopulations can exceed the carrying capacity for a short time but eventually the limit of the environment brings the population back down.
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Chose the ecosystem first, there are virtually an infinite number based on how you define one.  The biological components are the living things in a specific ecosystem.  \n\n"the physical and biological components of an environment\n\n"The size and scale of an ecosystem can vary widely. It may be a whole forest, as well as a small pond, or even the geobiosphere itself. Different ecosystems are often separated by geographical barriers, like deserts, mountains or oceans, or are isolated otherwise, like lakes or rivers. As these borders are never rigid, ecosystems tend to blend into each other. As a result, the whole earth can be seen as a single ecosystem, or a lake can be divided into several ecosystems, depending on the scale used."
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Food chains follow a single path taken as different creatures eat each other for energy.\nA food web is a formation of interconnected food chains.It explores how ALL life is connected.It is not a single path like a food chain is.
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Dead.\n\nThe only source for energy for life on earth is the sun, and the only way that energy gets here is light.
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I pressume you are asking about biomass.\n\nConverting energy from one form to another is never 100% efficient.\nNot all the energy illuminating a plant will be fixed into manufactured organic chemicals (BIOMASS)\nOnly some of the energy available in organic chemicals (food) will be available for animals to build BIOMASS.\n\nAssume 100 units of light energy available, and a 10% energy transfer efficiency, then;\nSun to plant - 10 energy units fixed, and\nPlant to animal - 1 energy unit fixed.\nSo the amount of BIOMASS that could be made decreases dramatically at each trophic level.\n\nALSO - don't forget that some BIOMASS is RESPIRED by the organisms  at each trophic level and is therefore not available to the next level.\n\nNo surprise then that diagrams of biomass for the organisms in an ecosystem look like a pyramid, and that any ecosystem can only support very few top carnivores.