Question

A chipmunk consumes 100 J of energy from food, excretes 177 J as waste, and 784 J to heat via metabolism. How many joules of energy are available to convert into new biomass?

a) 100 J
b) 106 J
c) 117 J
d) 784 J

Answer 1

The energy available to convert into new biomass is 117 J. Hence the correct answer is option C

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine the joules of energy available to convert into new biomass, we need to subtract the energy consumed as waste and the energy used for heat via metabolism from the energy consumed from food. In this case, the chipmunk consumes 100 J of energy from food, excretes 177 J as waste, and uses 784 J for heat via metabolism. Therefore, the amount of energy available to convert into new biomass is 100 J - 177 J - 784 J = -861 J.

Option D is not correct because it represents the amount of energy used for heat via metabolism, not the amount of energy available for new biomass. The correct answer is option c) 117 J.