h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A616565

Hello - I was startled to find that there is no entry in the Guide for caffeine (just coffee, mountain dew, and some other stuff), and so I decided to write about how exactly caffeine does what it does. Hopefully, it's destined to be a part of the Edited Guide someday. In the meanwhile, any input is appreciated.

Thanks

Looks great! This is Guide stuff

Is it true that coffee doesn't 'produce' energy but merely lets your energy concentrate in kind of a burst, so that afterwards you fall into an even deeper 'slack' state?


Bossel (Scout)

Great entry.

I have one correction for it though, amphetamines is not the term for cocaine or heroin which are, in fact, two different types of drugs and so are amphetamines. Cocaine, like amphetamines (or crystal meth or crank) and caffeine, is considered a stimulant. Heroin is made from the opium flower and is therefore considered an opiate. Its hard to know all of that about drugs unless you do those drugs...and then its hard to think so then its hard to know all of that about drugs.

First off, thanks for all the feedback

To answer your question, Bossel, caffeine (and therefore coffee) doesn't _contain_ energy (unless you put sugar in it) - caffeine triggers the fight-or-flight response, one of the functions of which is to make the liver release sugar into the bloodstream. This sugar is where the 'extra' energy comes from.

AC, thanks for the correction. I used to know more about things like that; looks like I'll have to do some brushing up

one pathway you seem to miss is the way that caffine manipulates the trigger level for noradrenaline. by making the trigger level lower, it makes your thinking more likely to trigger connected ideas. if you have too much caffine, and get too much of this effect, youcan raise the trigger levels again by using nicotine. this is also the reason why the cycle of cigarette - coffee - cigarrette - coffee is such a bad idea.

note: I am not promoting smoking, and you can use the affine to counteract the similar effect with too much nicotine.

oh, I didn't make the point clear I guess. I know that coffee has 0 calories/joule, the point was that somewhere I've read that there's 100% of energy/resources to spend in a certain time, and the effect of caffeine is *not* to get more than 100 percent but just to release, say, the first 50% immediately, with 50% left for the rest of the day.

Anyway, this question is only an aside as it came to my mind when reading the stuff

Xyroth, thanks for the info on the norepinephrine pathway, but I'm not sure exactly what you mean by manipulating the trigger level. Do you mean manipulating the sensitivity of the trigger that determines when norepinephrine will be released, or the level of norepinephrine that must be released in order to 'trigger connected ideas'?

Bossel, thanks for clarifying; unfortunately, I don't have the knowledge to either confirm or deny this speculation. On the other hand, if anyone else can provide additional info, I'd be happy to include it in the entry.

Again, thanks for all the input

It manipulates the "noradrenaline" trigger level. when a neuron fires, the noradrenaline trigger level determines how likely it is that neighbouring neurons will fire. caffine makes this firing more likely, nicotine makes it less likely.

I don't know anything about the norepinephrine pathway. sorry.

Okay; this sounds like the mechanism through which caffeine quickens neuron firing in the brain (BTW, norepinephrine and noradrenaline are the same hormone). Thanks for the input - I'll add that to the entry.

And if you would like to GET some caffeine, try this place: http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/caffeine.html

Oh and nice article btw, now I know exactly HOW my mad coffee-drinking is affecting me

Sorry to spam the thread, but just a couple of facts:

Caffeine is a diuretic (I don't *think* you mentioned this fact, sorry if you have done already).

Caffeine's formula is C8H10N4O2 - all numbers are subscript, ie 8 carbons, 10 Hydrogens, 4 Nitrogens and 2 Oxygens. A piccy can be found here:[url removed by moderator]

Ah, right; thanks for reminding me about the diuretic effect (I knew I was forgetting something). Unfortunately, I don't know what the mecahnism is for activating the diuretic effect; if anyone does, please let me know.

Thanks for the formula, I suppose that's probably something important to have in the entry as well.

Hey they got rid of the URL! Not fair man.

pssst! -- the other one is still there although according to the rules it shouldn't.

BTW, I'd suggest you move over to Peer Review (that is, create another thread there, and after that, this one will be moved back to the entry)

Don't worry, Hactar - caffeine structure diagrams aren't too hard to find (thanks anyway though ).

And so the next step begins...

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'The Writing Workshop' to 'Caffeine'.