Re: [Fis] fis: Definitions of disorder

   Stan wrote:

>Insofar as the actual world where the enzymes appears to exist is a
>warm one, I wonder where the cold world referred to here, where the
>coherent aspect of the enzymes 'exists' is (? was).

   What I intended to say was that enzymatic reactions in biology are a
representative case of a heat engine of quantum-mechanical origin. Take, for
instance, ATP hydrolysis by a myosin molecule as an important participant in
muscle contraction. One ATP molecule releases energy as much as 10^-12 erg.
If this much of energy is released by a single photon, the photon should be
in the infrared region. The equivalent temperature is high above room
temperature (pretty warm, indeed), and the time required for releasing such
photon would be in the order of several femto seconds (~10^-15 seconds). In
reality, however, the time required for releasing that much of energy is
almost thirteen orders of magnitude greater or of order of 10 milli seconds
(~10^-2 seconds). This is equivalent to dissecting the single infrared
photon into very small pieces and releasing one by one in sequence. The
energy allotted to each piece is about 10^-19 erg. If you see photons in
that energy range, the equivalent temperature must be a few milli Kelvin,
roughly a millionth of room temperature. Once an extremely low temperature
is available, quantum coherence can survive for pretty long. Of course, you
cannot sense that extremely low temperature from the outside, because such a
low temperature is effectively available only in the neighborhood of an
actin-myosin complex hydrolyzing an ATP molecule. In short, an actin-myosin
complex hydrolyzing an ATP molecule is a heat engine operating between room
temperature and a few milli Kelvin above absolute zeo. The engineer for
fabricating such an engine has been quantum mechanics itself operating in
the natural environment unique to our Earth so far.

   One addendum.
   This effective cooling of quantum mechanical origin can be simulated
neither by Cartesian physics after Descartes nor by digital physics on
cellular automata. The basis of Cartesian physics is upon the thesis that
the force responsible for moving a body is communicated by the contact of
the moving bodies. The state-transition rule of a cellular automaton
inherits the similar spirit. The problem is that Cartesian physics is, as a
matter of principle, incompetent in deciphering what is happening during the
contact of the moving bodies. To be sure, Newtonian mechanics has taken over
Cartesian physics as introducing an idea of global synchronization. Action
at a distance, that was incompatible to Descartes' force, has been a major
consequence of global synchronization. Then, quantum mechanics enters the
game as questioning the idea of global synchronization. So, quantum
mechanics, once properly revisited, turns out quite weird.

   Cheers,
   Koichiro

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Received on Fri May 28 05:34:56 2004