Re: what daily items in experiment depict th chemical reaction of the brain?

Hi, 
First it might be of use to try to make sure one knows what a chemical 
reaction is before trying to use an example. I found some neat www sites 
on this and would like to share them with you.
So here is the definition of a chemical reaction.

“>>>>>>>>> http://www.chemtutor.com/react.htm#what
“WHAT IS A CHEMICAL REACTION? 
A chemical reaction is material changing from a beginning mass to a 
resulting substance. The hallmark of a chemical reaction is that new 
material or materials are made, along with the disappearance of the mass 
that changed to make the new. This does not mean that new elements have 
been made. In order to make new elements, the nuclear contents must 
change. 
Two materials, elements or compounds, come together to make a single 
product. Some examples of synthesis reactions are: Hydrogen gas and oxygen 
gas burn to produce water. 
2 H2 + O2  2 H2O and…
>>>>>>>>”

But considering reactions in the brain,  really in all our cells, there 
are chemical reactions that create energy for the cell’s needs.  For 
example, there are pumps that pump ions like Na+ , K+, Ca++ and others 
from one side of the cell to the other side. These pumps require energy. 
In cells the energy comes in the form of  chemical reactions from the 
breakdown of ATP. ATP is the source for the cell’s energy and there are a 
series of chemical reactions that take place in our cells to make ATP. 
Below I took off the www site the beginning reactions that are used to 
make ATP from the sugar glucose, which our brain needs for energy.
 http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/glycolysis.html#reactions

“>>>>>>>>
The Individual Reactions of Glycolysis
The pathway of glycolysis can be seen as consisting of 2 separate phases. 
The first is the chemical priming phase requiring energy in the form of 
ATP, and the second is considered the energy-yielding phase. In the first 
phase, 2 equivalents of ATP are used to convert glucose to fructose 1,6-
bisphosphate (F1,6BP). In the second phase F1,6BP is degraded to pyruvate, 
with the production of 4 equivalents of ATP and 2 equivalents of NADH. 
 
 {figure 1 goes here}

Pathway of glycolysis from glucose to pyruvate. Substrates and products 
are in blue, enzymes are in green. The two high energy intermediates whose 
oxidations are coupled to ATP synthesis are shown in red (1,3-
bisphosphoglycerate and phosphoenolpyruvate).
>>>>>>>>>>”

Now for examples of a chemical reactions, one can use many examples from 
around the house. The cooking an egg on a hot pan changes the molecules in 
the egg or the burning of a slice toast to where the black carbon appears 
on the surface are examples of chemical reactions. A very common example 
is to take a bite out of an apple and leave it for a few minutes. In just 
a short time one can start to see the white inside part of the apple start 
to change color to a brownish color. This all occurs because of a chemical 
reaction. 

Many reactions in our cells require enzymes to work. Enzymes are proteins 
that help speed up reactions so they will not take a long time to alter 
one chemical changing into another. Many enzymes require a particular 
temperature to work best. This is one reason it is important for our 
brains to stay within a certain temperature range so that the enzymes will 
work well. Some animals can not maintain a body temperature like us. So 
when it is cold around them their bodies also get cold and their chemical 
reactions slow down since the enzymes are not working as they would at 
higher temperatures.

I hope these examples and some explanation about chemical reactions helped 
you to begin to understand that our whole body, not just our brain, is 
really a bunch of chemical reactions. There are many chemical reactions 
taking place all the time in our cells, without these chemical reactions 
our cells would die and then we would not be able to survive.