Additional Science GCSE Physics Energy And Metabolic Rate

METABOLIC RATE

Metabolic rate is the rate at which your body uses energy

1. The body is doing work all the time, including muscle movement and functional activities such as digestion, heart beating and tissue repair etc.
2. All of these mechanisms involve transferring energy. And obviously, the more active you are, the more energy you transfer.
3. The amount of energy used by the human body per second,minute,hour of the day is called the metabolic rate.
4. The body gets its energy in the form of chemical energy from food. Most of this ends up as heat (and kinetic energy if you move about).

Basal Metabolic Rate

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the rate at which you burn energy at rest.

This is the minimum amount of energy needed to keep the body working properly.

To measure a persons BMR they need to go without food for 12 hours and then lie down in a room fully at rest. The amount of heat energy generated by their body is then measured over a certain time.

Factors that can affect the BMR are:

1. Age, children's are high because they need energy to grow
2. Body fat percentage, muscle needs more energy than fat 
3. Body surface area, higher surface area increases heat energy transfer
4. Diet, lower calories= lower BMR, more calories= higher BMR
5. External temperature, exposure to cold makes the body increase BMR to keep warm

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