Biological thermodynamics



Biological thermodynamics is a phrase that is sometimes used to refer to energy transformation in the biological sciences. Biological thermodynamics may be defined as the quantitative study of the energy transductions that occur in and between living organisms, structures, and cells and of the nature and function of the chemical processes underlying these transductions. Biological thermodynamics may address the question of whether the benefit associated with any particular phenotypic trait is worth the energy investment it requires.

History

German-British medical doctor and biochemist Gibbs free energy of formations for chemical species, able to calculate biochemical reactions that had not yet occurred.[2]

photosynthesis. The total energy captured by photosynthesis in green plants from the solar radiation is about 2 x 1023 joules of energy per year.[3] Annual energy captured by photosynthesis in green plants is about 4% of the total sunlight energy which reaches Earth. The energy transformations in biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents are exceptions. They oxidize sulfur, obtaining their energy via chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis.

The focus of thermodynamics in biology

The field of biological thermodynamics is focussed on principles of Gibbs free energy. The physical biologist Alfred Lotka attempted to unify the change in the Gibbs free energy with evolutionary theory.

See also

 Sustainable development Portal

References

  1. ^ Alberty R (2004). "A short history of the thermodynamics of enzyme-catalyzed reactions". J Biol Chem 279 (27): 27831-6. PMID 15073189.
  2. ^ Hans Krebs - 1935
  3. ^ http://www.terrapub.co.jp/e-library/kawahata/pdf/343.pdf,
  4. ^ Reactions and Enzymes Chapter 10 of On-Line Biology Book at Estrella Mountain Community College.

Further reading

  • Haynie, D. (2001). Biological Thermodynamics (textbook). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Lehninger, A., Nelson, D., & Cox, M. (1993). Principles of Biochemistry, 2nd Ed (textbook). New York: Worth Publishers.
  • Alberty, Robert, A. (2006). Biochemical Thermodynamics: Applications of Mathematica (Methods of Biochemical Analysis), Wiley-Interscience.
 
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