The correct definition of Homeostasis?
Homeostasis is the ability to maintain a relatively stable internal environment in an ever-changing outside world!
The environment of the body is a state of equilibrium.
What interacts to maintain homeostasis?
Chemical, thermal, and neural
There are also three interdependent components of control mechanisms:
Receptor - these things are monitors that respond to change, in other words, stimuli
Control Center - this determines the point when the variable is determined.
Effector - this is what provides the means to respond to the stimulus
In other words, the stimulus is what produces the change. The receptor detects the change which is sent to the control center. The control center sends the change to the effector which feeds back into the stimulus and fixes the imbalance.
What types of homeostasis is there?
The most common feedback is negative. This is where the output shuts off the original stimulus. This could be hunger, and low or high levels of blood glucose. When someone's blood glucose increases past the level it's supposed to, negative feedback starts. This is where homeostasis and its three interdependent components start to work. They take the high or possibly low levels and set them back to what the body considers normal.
In very few cases, positive feedback occurs. This is, of course, the opposite of negative feedback. When you get a cut, homeostasis kicks in and starts to heal. Positive feedback enhances the original stimulus. Therefore, when you get a cut, homeostasis has to exaggerate the stimulus in order to heal your injury.
Pictures pulled from Google.com
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