Like everything else in the universe, living things--and the cells that make them up--must abide by the laws of thermodynamics.

First Law: Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred and transformed. Cells absorb energy and convert it into different forms.

Second Law: Each time energy is transferred or transformed, the entropy of the universe increases.

With each energy conversion in a cell, a significant proportion of that energy is lost as heat.

Are you ready for this lesson?

To use this lesson, you should have:

• Read the appropriate chapter(s) in your textbook and reviewed your lecture notes on Thermodynamics

Lesson Topics

Click a topic below. We recommend progressing in sequence.