Body fat can be converted into heat transfer and work done by the body. According to the source's discussion of irreversibility, can work done on the body and heat transfer into it be converted back into body fat?
ANo, that conversion never happens; the process runs one way only
BYes, sunning yourself converts absorbed heat directly into fat
CYes, but only during sleep, when metabolism slows down
DYes, climbing stairs backward reverses the fat-burning process
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. No, that conversion never happens; the process runs one way only
1. The source uses the human body to illustrate an irreversible thermodynamic process, one that can go in only one direction under a given set of conditions.
2. It states plainly that although body fat converts to work and heat transfer, the reverse never happens: work done on the body and heat transfer into it cannot be converted to body fat.
3. The source even jokes that if this reverse conversion were possible, people could skip lunch by sunning themselves or by walking down stairs.
4. Sunning yourself supplies heat transfer into the body, and walking down stairs is largely a release of gravitational energy rather than fat synthesis, so options B and D describe exactly the impossible reverse process.
5. Sleep does not change this one-way rule since it is not tied to a special exception for slow metabolism, so option C is also incorrect.
6. The direction of this conversion is fixed by the second law's ban on spontaneously reversing a one-way energy flow, not by any special circumstance, so only option A, denying the reverse conversion outright, is consistent with the source.
_Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 15 "Thermodynamics", section 15.1 The First Law of Thermodynamics_
Related questions
A perfect crystal at 0 K has W equal to 1, which makes its entropy:Boltzmann's model related the entropy of a system to which quantity?An endothermic process that involves an increase in system entropy is spontaneous when temA process whose enthalpy and entropy changes share the same arithmetic sign will show:At minus 10.00 degrees Celsius the entropy change of the universe for melting is negative,Melting is described as spontaneous at 10.00 degrees Celsius because at that temperature:Free energy is described as the energy available to do useful work, being the difference bBesides indicating spontaneity, the free energy change gives information about the amount