Originally posted by: Gauri_3
We have to add spark to that energy to actually kick in the process of burning that fuel. That fuel, by itself, won't do any good in a productive way. This brings us back to what IS energy and which forms HAS energy and what good just "having" energy do if the form that has it is not evolved enough to use that energy productively.
I would like to explore this topic more on a religious/spiritual level than scientific. That said, I do have the basics of science. It's just the complex interpretations that confuse me. Like equating matter to energy when the equation has other two factors apart from matter.
If I just sit in one place, without moving a muscle, I am not spending any energy. Doesn't mean, I don't have it. Similarly, if a rock is just sitting there, it doesn't mean it doesn't have energy. Trees, plants, dead animals (including humans if buried) all turn into energy sources (fossil fuel) over a period of time whose energy is usable but not renewable because once consumed, it turns into heat which dissipates into the atmosphere. Even then, that energy is still there, expcept it's so diluted, we can't reuse it any longer.
Phrases and terms like "What good is it"? "Productivity"? "Gain"? "Loss" is stuff that only humans are bothered about towards achieving a goal. Humans have goals for reasons best known to them. That shouldn't mean, we start thinking that we are the center of the universe and everything revolves around us.
You will be surpirsed to know how much energy you have (or the tree infront of your house has) when you actually multiply your mass with the speed of light in vacuum, squared. Go ahead and do it.
Why can't you use all that energy? Because, it in turn takes energy to burn energy.
Eeven a spark doesn't do anything on its own unless someone lights it. A catalyst. Where did that catalyst get it's energy? If it's a human, by eating food. If it's a match stick, then the atoms making up the head of the stick have stored energy.
It helps me always go to the source for every single thing to get a better understanding.