Regrowing body parts: What are the costs?

Everybody has seen superpowers like superstrength, flying, and regeneration. While flying and superstrength are quite straightforward regarding the energy cost, regeneration is not.

In this question, I want to find the energy cost of this power. Let's assume an arm needs to be regrown. An average human arm weighs 4-6kg. (5kg for the purpose of this question.) Assuming all necessary atoms can be brought to the place they are needed to form an arm one way or the other there is still the energy cost of biochemically forming all the molecules. That is what I want to focus on.

How much energy has to be expended to form an arm from just the materials in their simplest or most common forms? (atoms, very basic gas molecules, etc.)
It can be assumed that H₂O is already available as it is rather common on earth and in a human body. (And certainly more common than H₂ for example)

Answers should account for as many different costs that occur and thus give an estimation as precise as possible of the total net energy cost of regrowing a limb assuming the required atoms are sufficiently available.

It can be assumed that excess energy of possible exothermic processes can be "gained" and reused for the rest of the energy requirements. (Though I do not think this will be in any case a relevant portion of the net energy cost.)

This question is a follow-up to my question "Energy cost of creating body parts from nothing but energy". That question showed clearly that the generation of matter by far exceeds the energy cost of biochemically putting a limb together.

I will post my own calculations as an answer. I am not certain about my math, my data, my conclusions or if I missed a few things, but wanted to include it for other people to improve upon and maybe save answerers some time, research and work.

posted almost 6 years ago

ArtificialSoul‭

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