>From:    "March, Jim" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: How much stays in the fert?
>>4. On the basis of what goes in must come out, 120 lbs is quite a large
>>pile of poop in the corner :)
>Now, I know that's not right...*most* of it never leaves the fert, it gets
>"spent" in energy.  How much waste varies according to the food type; try
 
I wish!
 
Well, I've never taken a biology course in my life, but it seems to me that
conservation of mass has to enter the picture somewhere.  Just because
something gets eaten and "burnt up", doesn't mean that all of that mass just
disappears.  It changes form and goes out the...ummm.... exhaust pipe.  It
seems to me that most of the energy should come from the various chemical
reactions involved.
 
On the other hand, if ferrets have nuclear reactors in their stomachs then
they could turn mass directly into energy. Being the advanced race that they
are, I suppose it is possible and it might even explain a few things......
like how they power the teleporters.
 
Pat Smith
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http://www.worldgate.com/~psmith/HideyHole.html
[Posted in FML issue 1747]