 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. And now, a word from our sponsor. Energy ends is not just a bowl of cereal, it's a bowl of energy! Remember, when you eat any food, you are consuming calories! Those calories are what gives you energy! Mmm, energy is good! But how do I know my child is getting enough energy? Look, it's right here on the label! Food labels show you how many calories are in each serving, and calories are what your body burns for energy! Energy is awesome! Energy ends is one of many foods that provide you with calories. Cereal is only one part of a balanced diet. Does the box know how many calories are in the food? Excellent question, Skippy. You are very inquisitive this morning. Well, scientists count the calories in food by putting it into a machine called a bomb calorimeter. What? Please, Skippy, hold your horses. I am getting to that. As I was saying, scientists put different foods into the bomb calorimeter. They seal it, and then burn the food. Completely, the machine has sensors that measure the amount of heat produced during the burning. No, it is not dangerous if done properly. It is science! Anywho, the amount of heat produced represents the amount of calories in the food. The bomb calorimeter measures energy that equals the amount of heat necessary to raise the temperature of one gram of water to reach Celsius at a pressure of one atmosphere. Steady on, chap. The important thing is that the hotter a food burns, the more calories it has. As you will see, different kinds of food produce different amounts of heat, and therefore different amounts of calories. Here we have butter slash oil, fat, lean meat slash chicken, lean bread slash fruits slash veg. Carbohydrates, if you burn one gram of fat, you will measure nine calories of heat. If you burn one gram of protein, you will measure four calories of heat. If you burn one gram of carbohydrate, you will measure four calories of heat. Neat, huh? You want to know why this is important? Well, it all relates to the energy in slash energy out idea. If you eat food equivalent to 100 calories, and you don't want to gain any weight, then you must burn 100 calories through physical activity. If you want to lose weight, then you must do physical activities that burn more than 100 calories. So, Skippy, that bomb calorimeter doesn't seem so scary now, does it? It's simply a tool scientists use to burn food, measure heat, and count calories. Hold on there, Skipper Doodle. Are you curious about the calories in that serving of potato chips? Well, lucky for us, you don't need a bomb calorimeter to find out. Nutrition facts labels show the calories for each serving of food. You can use them to find out how many calories you need to burn for everything you eat. How many calories does movement burn? Skippy, now you're getting ahead of us. That's all about energy out. For that, we'll need you for another animation. The preceding was a production of New Mexico State University. The views and opinions in this program are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Regents.