Chemists as early as Lavoisier suggested that people get their energy from combustion-like reactions, but even though the products and reactants are the same when you burn food in a fire and in your b...Chemists as early as Lavoisier suggested that people get their energy from combustion-like reactions, but even though the products and reactants are the same when you burn food in a fire and in your body, the way it happens is different. The O will form water, the S will form usually SO 2 and the N will often produce N 2 , but sometimes a little bit of a nitrogen oxide. When you balance combustion reactions, usually start with the C, and the fuel, and do the oxygen last.
