English for

2.3 Reading Resource #2: 
Thermodynamics 
 
The universe's total amount of energy is constant and conserved, according to the first law of 
thermodynamics. In other words, the amount of energy in the universe is the same now and has always been. 
Energy can take on a variety of shapes. According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy may be transferred 
from place to place or transformed
into different forms, but it cannot be created or destroyed. The transfers and 
transformations of energy take place around
us all the time. Electrical energy is converted into light and heat 
energy by lightbulbs. Natural gas stoves convert the chemical energy into heat energy. One of the most 
biologically beneficial energy transformations occurs in plants when sunlight energy is converted to chemical 
energy stored in organic molecules. 
16
Fowler, S., Roush, R. & Wise, J. (2017) 
Concepts in Biology, 
Chapter 4, -Pp. 92-93. OpenStax, 
https://openstax.org/details/books/concepts-biology
 

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51 
 
Figure 28.
Examples of energy being transferred and changed from one system to another and from one form 
to another are displayed. The energy needed for bodily functions is provided by the food we eat, just as light 
energy enables plants to produce the chemical energy they require. (credit "ice cream": modification of work 
by D. Sharon Pruitt; credit "kids": modification of work by Max from Providence; credit "leaf": modification 
of work by Cory Zanker)
 
Finding energy from their environment that they can transfer or convert into usable energy to perform 
work is a challenge for all living things. Living things have developed to deal with this difficulty. Through a 
series of cellular chemical reactions, chemical energy contained in organic molecules like sugars and fats is 
transferred and converted into energy contained in ATP molecules. Energy in ATP molecules is easily 
accessible to do work

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