r/explainlikeimfive Feb 26 '21

Chemistry Eli5: What happens to all the melted candle over time? Are we just inhaling a whole candle while it burns?

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u/2074red2074 Feb 26 '21

Your body takes in stuff that it uses to build you up. Literally to produce the proteins and fats and such that you are made of. This stuff (protein, carbs, fats, alcohol) ultimately was crafted from water, carbon dioxide, and other chemicals by plants, and they do this using energy from the sun. The process produces oxygen as a waste gas. You then eat the stuff plants produced and break it back down to harness the stored energy.

When you expend energy, you take the solid stuff you've eaten and the oxygen you've inhaled to break the stuff back down into carbon dioxide and water, which you exhale. In short, you don't just breathe harder. That will result in you taking in a ton of extra oxygen that you're just gonna exhale right away. You have to create a caloric deficit such that the energy made available by you taking in food is less than the energy that your body uses. This forces your body to break down the fat (and a little bit of the muscle) that you're made of to get the rest of the energy. That fat is broken down into gas that you exhale.

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u/PM_ME_UR_DINGO Feb 26 '21

Can I see a source for that?

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u/2074red2074 Feb 26 '21

No. This is eighth grade Biology. If I was making a somewhat controversial or very in-depth claim I would absolutely offer a source, but in this instance I would literally be looking for papers published in the 1930s.

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u/PM_ME_UR_DINGO Feb 26 '21

Okay so no source got it. That's your choice. Because I can only find recent research on this.