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High school biology
Course: High school biology > Unit 8
Lesson 1: Body structure and homeostasisHomeostasis
Ever wondered why your temperature stays at 98.6 degrees? Learn about homeostasis and how your body maintains a stable temperature. Created by MIT+K12.
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- she doesn't explain why we shiver? What does shivering do? 1:53(11 votes)
- I think it is like how running makes you feel warm, shivering is also body movement, which generates heat.(25 votes)
- Quick QuestionL : How does the human body maintain homeostasis of mercury and lead homeostasis if at all. Like what does the body do to respond to high levels of mercury, lead, or calcium in the blood to maintain balance?(2 votes)
- Mercury and lead are regulated, quite frankly, through excrement. Your body takes in what it needs (though with mercury this is nothing) and expels the rest in urine and feces. You really only need trace amounts of these, so not having enough is rarely a problem; your body is mostly just trying to get rid of it.
Calcium is a little more difficult as you need more of it, so low levels are more an issue than high levels. In case of low levels, the body releases parathyroid hormone (PTH), which stimulates the absorption of more calcium into the organs
(Look at the answer given by ++§ Αλεκσανδαρ to this question for additional information :) )(8 votes)
- Suppose if I have a serious burn in my hand and also causes pain, will my body temperature will change or not?(6 votes)
- What happens if the whole body overheats. could you die?(3 votes)
- Yes; this is what happens in severe heat disorders like heat stroke. This is also why you need to call emergency services in order to treat heat exhaustion and heat stroke.(6 votes)
- Hello y'all :)
Is this the newest AP Biology course?
~ Grover U.(4 votes)- I honestly have no idea. Hope you either found out or find out soon!(4 votes)
- How does cells in the body along with the organelles help maintain homeostasis?(2 votes)
- One interesting thing that your cells can do in response to temperature changes is alter the viscosity of their cell membranes. They do this by adding or removing double bonds to the fatty acids within the membrane.
EG: Cold makes the cell membrane more viscous, which makes it less able to function properly. The cell responds by adding double bonds to some of the fatty acids in the membrane, creating unsaturated fatty acids (unsaturated fats are like vegetable oil, saturated fats are like wax). This decreases viscosity so that it can still function optimally.(4 votes)
- What is equilibrium? Is it the thing that is normal for the body temperature?(1 vote)
- yes, the body will always try to stay in an equilibrium so enzymes can work at their best in the body.(6 votes)
- she didnt mention vasoconstriction and vasodilation. are they related to the blood pressure?(3 votes)
- who found out about homeostasis(3 votes)
- i dont understand this can someone help me(2 votes)
Video transcript
How do you maintain
a steady body temperature when you're
exposed to ice packs, or hot water bottles? Healthy Body temperature
is 37 degrees Celsius, or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. I need to keep a steady
temperature near 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or else crucial
molecules in my body will change shape and stop
working, and I'll die. Homeostasis is the
scientific term for my body's ability to
maintain its proper equilibrium temperature. But what if I'm exposed
to steaming hot water, or freezing cold ice? How does my body maintain its
equilibrium temperature then? Let's see. I'll cover myself
with ice packs, and see how my body reacts. Five cold minutes later, let
me check my body temperature. Sure enough, it's still near
normal body temperature, homeostasis in action. Within a degree or so 98.6
is still considered normal. And despite how cold I
feel, I haven't actually gotten any colder. How did my body do this? It made me feel cold, and
want to wear myself up by shivering, little muscle
movements that generate heat. See how pale my arm looks? After noticing the cold, my body
directed by blood to my core, and less to my skin
and extremities. My arm quickly loses heat
to the cold environment, but the temperature stays
constant in my core, which is thicker, so it loses less
heat to the environment. I also get goosebumps,
where my hair stands on end, creating an insulating
layer like the jacket my body wisher I were wearing. So my body uses a lot of tools
to keep my temperature up. When my body senses
that it's cold, homeostasis mechanisms make
me shiver, draw blood away from my skin, and
give me goosebumps. These make me warmer, so my
core temperature isn't changed. My body uses some of the
opposite tools to cool down. It directs blood to the
surface to cool down, making me a bit pink. It needs to resort to
more extreme measures if I want to be active in the
heat, because moving my muscles uses energy and lets off
heat, sort of like shivering to keep warm in the cold. But in this case, my body
needs to counteract the warmth that the movement causes. My body makes me feel
exhausted, urging me to stop running in
place, but that's not enough if I'm excited to be
running for some reason. It also makes me sweat. In order to get the energy
to evaporate into the air, sweat pulls heat from my body,
and this helps me cool down. Not all animals have as
effective sweat glands as people do, so
people can endure longer periods of
intense activity than many other animals. When I got warm,
homeostasis mechanisms let my blood move near
the surface of my skin, and made me sweat,
so I got cooler. There are other forms of
homeostasis to regulate things besides temperature. For example, when your blood
pressure drops suddenly, which can happen if
you stand up suddenly, your blood vessels constrict,
which brings your blood pressure up to normal. Also, if your blood sugar rises,
which can happen after eating, your pancreas releases insulin
to lower your blood sugar back to normal. Diabetes is the disease that
affects your body's ability to maintain blood
sugar homeostasis. In general, homeostasis
is when our bodies recognize a slight drift
from healthy conditions, and counteract that drift by
nudging us back to equilibrium.