Revealed: The number of calories you burn with click of a mouse

Someone has finally answered the question that has been on everyone's mind - how many calories do you burn when you click that mouse?

Researchers in Japan took time out from other mundane activities to find answer to the all important question. RocketNews24 reports via Yahoo Japan that researchers calculated the "total volume of the muscles used to bend the index finger to be 10.8 cubic centimeters with a total weight of 11.7 grams."

On average, 16.7 micromoles of ATP (Adenosine triphosphate) are consumed in moving one gram of muscle for one second. So, the total amount of ATP burned to move 11.7 grams of muscle in the index finger is approximately 195 micromoles (11.7g×16.7μ mol/g). There are 7.3 calories in one mole of ATP energy, so the number of calories burned in clicking the mouse equals about 1.42 (7.3/1000) X 195).

There you have it. You burn 1.42 calories with every click. Mind you, that's the scientific calorie (or heat calorie) we're talking about here, not calorie as you and me know it (i.e. food calories). To put that number in context, a typical cappuccino has around 140 calories (or 140000 heat calories), which means you need around 100000 clicks just to burn that cup off. Now before you cancel the jogging scheduled for tomorrow morning, be advised, excessive clicking is no substitute for 'real' exercise.