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Why Can't We Run Our Bodies Off Electricity?
If ATP holds energy in its supply of electrons which secure its bonds, and we have the ability to store electrical energy (availability to tons of electrons), why can't we create large amounts of ATP, using electricity as the power source?
So maybe, one day we can survive on nothing more that turbines at a waterfall, or fans in a field.
4 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavourite answer
Okay, I'll bite but..
Are you saying, in this universe, we would feed ourselves with artificially generated ATP? Well it couldn't be in the form of ATP because I think our bodies are quite sensitive to Phosphate imbalances so getting all those extra phosphates would be no good..I would think it would have to be carbon based..like sugar.
At first when I started reading this I thought when you said "we have the ability.." you were saying the human body has the ability to store electric charges..it would be great if we could actually pulse an electric current through ourselves at a frequency that allowed the enzyme, ATP synthase, to react and make phosphate bonds with electrical energy..rather than chemical energy..that would be neat.
Btw..currently (no pun intended) I don't think electrically driven reactions are known to create organic material (other than the Miller and Urey experiment).
If we were talking about BIOFUELS..then it could be done..you're suggestion of consuming ATP is unrealistic. If you posted this simply out of curiosity then you would probably find biofuel research really interesting!
- 1 decade ago
ATP is chemical energy. Its very different from electrical energy. All elements have electrons. They have nothing to do with electricity. We are DNA based organisms, not computer based organisms. It would never work. Atleast not yet. Androids will do this but as of now they don't exist.
Source(s): Biology - Anonymous1 decade ago
Well you can make your ATP, but it's no good unless you can deliver it in proper amounts to where it's actually needed, inside each and every cell. So what's the distribution mechanism.
