Chapter 11
Biomolecular Structure and Interactions
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum
theory cannot possibly have understood it.
— Niels Bohr
Summary At a molecular level, organic structures come about from electromagnetic interactions and from nature’s quantum behavior. Humans now have a
successful, accurate, and predictive description of atoms and molecules, applying
the theory of quantum electrodynamics. Included in the theory is all of chemistry,
which includes the biochemistry of life. Our instruments for probing the microworld have recently undergone revolutionary advancements, even to the point of
being able to observe the progression of biological actions at the molecular level.
We can see viral structure and actions, and the damage of radiation on our DNA.
11.1 Nature in the Small World
Humans get their vision of the world by observing macrosystems with light of
wavelength much larger than atoms. Our so-called intuition is a set of ideas distilled
and derived from these everyday observations, becoming our ‘gut reaction’, and
percolating from our deeply subconscious analysis of experiences. We are surprised
by the behavior of the universe in the nanometer-scale. Even if that behavior is
strange, non-intuitional, or paradoxical, our task is to try to understand nature
through the formulation of logical connections between what we can determine at
all scales. If we are clever enough, these logical relations can be synthesized into a
model of the small world. This synthesis occurred between the years 1900 and 1931
in the creation of quantum theory.
Quantum theory, incorporating Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, is one of
the most widely tested and most accurate theories yet formulated by humans. As
students in an ordinary laboratory, we are often happy to measure a quantity to a
precision of three decimal places. Some predictions of quantum electrodynamics
have been checked with experimental measurements to twelve decimal places. Such
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. C. Parke, Biophysics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44146-3_11
513
Biomolecular Structure and Interactions
Those who are not shocked when they first come across quantum
theory cannot possibly have understood it.
— Niels Bohr
Summary At a molecular level, organic structures come about from electromagnetic interactions and from nature’s quantum behavior. Humans now have a
successful, accurate, and predictive description of atoms and molecules, applying
the theory of quantum electrodynamics. Included in the theory is all of chemistry,
which includes the biochemistry of life. Our instruments for probing the microworld have recently undergone revolutionary advancements, even to the point of
being able to observe the progression of biological actions at the molecular level.
We can see viral structure and actions, and the damage of radiation on our DNA.
11.1 Nature in the Small World
Humans get their vision of the world by observing macrosystems with light of
wavelength much larger than atoms. Our so-called intuition is a set of ideas distilled
and derived from these everyday observations, becoming our ‘gut reaction’, and
percolating from our deeply subconscious analysis of experiences. We are surprised
by the behavior of the universe in the nanometer-scale. Even if that behavior is
strange, non-intuitional, or paradoxical, our task is to try to understand nature
through the formulation of logical connections between what we can determine at
all scales. If we are clever enough, these logical relations can be synthesized into a
model of the small world. This synthesis occurred between the years 1900 and 1931
in the creation of quantum theory.
Quantum theory, incorporating Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, is one of
the most widely tested and most accurate theories yet formulated by humans. As
students in an ordinary laboratory, we are often happy to measure a quantity to a
precision of three decimal places. Some predictions of quantum electrodynamics
have been checked with experimental measurements to twelve decimal places. Such
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
W. C. Parke, Biophysics, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44146-3_11
513