Ecological Energy Pyramid — 2D Cross-Section of the 10% Trophic Rule

Real energy pyramids are stark: at every step up a food chain, roughly 90% of the energy captured by the level below is lost as metabolic heat, incomplete digestion, and biomass that is never consumed. This 2D cross-section renders the pyramid as a stack of shrinking bands — producers, herbivores, and successive tiers of predators — and streams individual energy particles up through it, each one randomly surviving or dissipating at a transfer boundary according to the trophic efficiency you set. A synced log-scale chart shows the same E(n) = E₀·η^n decay as a declining line. Adjust the efficiency, the producer's base energy input, and how many trophic levels are shown, and watch the live readouts track exactly how much energy reaches the top and why food chains hit a hard ceiling around four or five levels.