Final answer:
The animal's body is around 30%-50% efficient at converting the energy from glucose, with higher efficiency seen in specific cells like liver cells, while general human efficiency for metabolism is about 20-25%.
Step-by-step explanation:
The animal's body is approximately 30%-50% efficient at converting the energy from glucose. As we learn from the liver cell's metabolism, a mammalian liver cell showcases this level of efficiency.
However, in general human metabolism, only 20-25% of the energy derived from food is converted into external mechanical work, with the majority being converted into heat or stored as fat.
Understanding energy efficiency is critical because it helps us grasp how energy is transferred, utilized, and lost within an organism, which is an important aspect of studying biological systems.