Biological thermodynamics

Biological thermodynamics is 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.

German-British medical doctor and biochemist Hans Krebs' 1957 book Energy Transformations in Living Matter (written with Hans Kornberg) was the first major publication on the thermodynamics of biochemical reactions. In addition, the appendix contained the first-ever published thermodynamic tables, written by Kenneth Burton, to contain equilibrium constants and Gibbs free energy of formations for chemical species, able to calculate biochemical reactions that had not yet occurred.

Non-equilibrium thermodynamics has been applied for explaining how biological organisms can develop from disorder. Ilya Prigogine developed methods for the thermodynamic treatment of such systems. He called these systems dissipative systems, because they are formed and maintained by the dissipative processes that exchange energy between the system and its environment, and because they disappear if that exchange ceases. It may be said that they live in symbiosis with their environment. Energy transformations in biology are dependent primarily on photosynthesis. The total energy captured by photosynthesis in green plants from the solar radiation is about 2 x 10²³ joules of energy per year. Annual energy captured by photosynthesis in green plants is about 4% of the total sunlight energy that reaches Earth. The energy transformations in biological communities surrounding hydrothermal vents are exceptions; they oxidize sulfur, obtaining their energy via chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis.

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