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Author: Michal Kurzynski Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3540336540 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 438
Book Description
Thermodynamics was created in the ?rst half of the 19th century as a theory designed to explain the functioning of heat engines converting heat into mechanical work. In the course of time, while the scope of research in this ?eld was being extended to a wider and wider class of energy transformations, thermodynamics came to be considered as a general theory of machines identi?ed with energy transducers. Imp- tant progress in biochemistry in the ?rst half of the 20th century, and in molecular biology in the second half, made it possible to think of treating even living organisms as machines, at least on the subcellular level. However, success in applying thermodynamics to elucidate the phenomenon of life has been rather mitigated. Two reasons seem to be responsible for this unsatisfactory s- uation. Nineteenth century thermodynamics dealt only with simple (homogeneous) systems in complete equilibrium. Although during the 20th century a nonequilibrium thermodynamics was developed, sta- ing with the Onsager theory of linear response and ending with the Prigogine nonlinear theory of dissipative structures, these theories still concern the originally homogeneous systems. Because living organisms are complex systems with a historically frozen spatial and functional structure, a thermodynamics of both nonequilibrium and complex s- tems is needed for their description. The ?rst goal of the present book is to formulate the foundations of such a thermodynamics.
Author: Michal Kurzynski Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3540336540 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 438
Book Description
Thermodynamics was created in the ?rst half of the 19th century as a theory designed to explain the functioning of heat engines converting heat into mechanical work. In the course of time, while the scope of research in this ?eld was being extended to a wider and wider class of energy transformations, thermodynamics came to be considered as a general theory of machines identi?ed with energy transducers. Imp- tant progress in biochemistry in the ?rst half of the 20th century, and in molecular biology in the second half, made it possible to think of treating even living organisms as machines, at least on the subcellular level. However, success in applying thermodynamics to elucidate the phenomenon of life has been rather mitigated. Two reasons seem to be responsible for this unsatisfactory s- uation. Nineteenth century thermodynamics dealt only with simple (homogeneous) systems in complete equilibrium. Although during the 20th century a nonequilibrium thermodynamics was developed, sta- ing with the Onsager theory of linear response and ending with the Prigogine nonlinear theory of dissipative structures, these theories still concern the originally homogeneous systems. Because living organisms are complex systems with a historically frozen spatial and functional structure, a thermodynamics of both nonequilibrium and complex s- tems is needed for their description. The ?rst goal of the present book is to formulate the foundations of such a thermodynamics.
Author: Peter M. Hoffmann Publisher: ISBN: 0465022537 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 290
Book Description
Life, Hoffman argues, emerges from the random motions of atoms filtered through the sophisticated structures of our evolved machinery. People are essentially giant assemblies of interacting nanoscale machines.
Author: Peter M Hoffmann Publisher: Basic Books ISBN: 0465033369 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 290
Book Description
Life is an enduring mystery. Yet, science tells us that living beings are merely sophisticated structures of lifeless molecules. If this view is correct, where do the seemingly purposeful motions of cells and organisms originate? In Life's Ratchet, physicist Peter M. Hoffmann locates the answer to this age-old question at the nanoscale. Below the calm, ordered exterior of a living organism lies microscopic chaos, or what Hoffmann calls the molecular storm -- specialized molecules immersed in a whirlwind of colliding water molecules. Our cells are filled with molecular machines, which, like tiny ratchets, transform random motion into ordered activity, and create the "purpose" that is the hallmark of life. Tiny electrical motors turn electrical voltage into motion, nanoscale factories custom-build other molecular machines, and mechanical machines twist, untwist, separate and package strands of DNA. The cell is like a city -- an unfathomable, complex collection of molecular workers working together to create something greater than themselves. Life, Hoffman argues, emerges from the random motions of atoms filtered through these sophisticated structures of our evolved machinery. We are agglomerations of interacting nanoscale machines more amazing than anything in science fiction. Rather than relying on some mysterious "life force" to drive them -- as people believed for centuries -- life's ratchets harness instead the second law of thermodynamics and the disorder of the molecular storm. Grounded in Hoffmann's own cutting-edge research, Life's Ratchet reveals the incredible findings of modern nanotechnology to tell the story of how the noisy world of atoms gives rise to life itself.
Author: Libb Thims Publisher: Lulu.com ISBN: 1430328401 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 434
Book Description
Volume two begins with Goethe's theories of affinities, i.e. the chemical reaction view of human life in 1809. This is followed by the history of how the thermodynamic (1876) and quantum (1905) revolutions modernized chemistry such that affinity (the 'force' of reaction) is now viewed as a function of thermodynamic 'free energy' (reaction spontaneity) and quantum 'valency' (bond stabilities). The composition, energetic state, dynamics, and evolution of the human chemical bond A?B is the centerpiece of this process. The human bond is what gives (yields) and takes (absorbs) energy in life. The coupling of this bond energy, driven by periodic inputs of solar photons, thus triggering activation energies and entropies, connected to the dynamical work of life, is what quantifies the human reaction process. This is followed by topics including mental crystallization, template theory, LGBT chemistry, chemical potential, Le Chatelier's principle, Muller dispersion forces, and human thermodynamics.
Author: Jeremy England Publisher: Basic Books ISBN: 1541699009 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 185
Book Description
A preeminent physicist unveils a field-defining theory of the origins and purpose of life. Why are we alive? Most things in the universe aren't. And everything that is alive traces back to things that, puzzlingly, weren't. For centuries, the scientific question of life's origins has confounded us. But in Every Life Is on Fire, physicist Jeremy England argues that the answer has been under our noses the whole time, deep within the laws of thermodynamics. England explains how, counterintuitively, the very same forces that tend to tear things apart assembled the first living systems. But how life began isn't just a scientific question. We ask it because we want to know what it really means to be alive. So England, an ordained rabbi, uses his theory to examine how, if at all, science helps us find purpose in a vast and mysterious universe. In the tradition of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Every Life Is on Fire is a profound testament to how something can come from nothing.
Author: Axel Kleidon Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 1107029945 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 397
Book Description
An accessible book for graduate students and researchers that describes how the laws of thermodynamics apply to Earth system processes.
Author: Henry P. Stapp Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3540724133 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 193
Book Description
The classical mechanistic idea of nature that prevailed during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was essentially mindless: the physically described aspects of nature were asserted to be completely determined by prior physically described aspects alone, with conscious experiences entering only passively. In the last century these classical concepts were found inadequate. In the new quantum mechanics theory, conscious experiences enter into the dynamics in specified ways not fixed by physically described aspects alone.
Author: David P. Wilkinson Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1439806667 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 462
Book Description
A Detailed, Up-to-Date Treatment of Key Developments in PEMFC MaterialsThe potential to revolutionize the way we power our worldBecause of its lower temperature and special polymer electrolyte membrane, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is well-suited for transportation, portable, and micro fuel cell applications. But the performance o
Author: Michal Kurzynski
Author: Michal Kurzynski
Author: Donald T. Haynie
Author: Eric D. Schneider
Author: Peter M. Hoffmann
Author: Peter M Hoffmann
Author: Libb Thims
Author: Jeremy England
Author: Axel Kleidon
Author: Henry P. Stapp
Author: David P. Wilkinson