514
11 Biomolecular Structure and Interactions
precise experiments may take years to construct and analyze. Before computers, our
theory also took years of calculation to determine a prediction to twelve decimal
places.
Quantum theory has been successfully applied to the smallest scale measured,
about one billionth of a nanometer (10 −18 m). Einstein’s General Relativity suggests
that at scales of 10 −35 m (the ‘Planck length’), quantum theory must be revised,
but such small separations cannot be observed with current instruments. Quantum
theory can be used to predict the motion of baseballs and planets, but the formalism
is more esoteric and less direct than Newton’s second law, and the wave interference
properties which are within quantum theory are practically unobservable for
objects the size of baseballs. When the wave diffraction and interference part of
quantum theory are reduced out, Newton’s laws emerge, making Newton’s laws a
macroscopic simplification of the more fundamental quantum theory, just like what
occurs when Maxwell’s electrodynamics are reduced to ray optics by taking a small
wavelength approximation.
Quantum theory explains atomic structure, chemical bonding, chemical reactions, spectral colors in absorption and emission, excitation states, and all other
properties and interactions of bodies at the nanoscale, including those in biological
systems. For example, the primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structure of
proteins, critical to behavior of enzymes, can be predicted by quantum theory. The
various kinds of interactions between molecules and ions within a cell are well
described by quantum theory.
Quantum effects are evident in the nature of atomic and molecular structure and
interactions. The field of Quantum Biology specializes in how quantum mechanics
is involved in chemical reactions, light absorption, electron excitations, and proton
transfers. Within quantum theory, such examples as the microscopic nature of
photosynthesis, vision, and DNA mutation by quantum tunneling can be understood.
11.2 Quantum Behavior of Matter
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see
the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die.
— Max Planck
Here are a number of important aspects of quantum theory:
1. In order to know about the outside world, we must interact with it. We see
by gathering light from the environment. This light is scattered or emitted
from objects at which we are looking. Atomic particles are so small in mass
that the act of observation disturbs the particle, making subsequent observation
dependent on the previous observation. This interaction between the observed
and the observer is built into quantum theory. Our thinking, however, may
be counter to this behavior. We think of bodies as having a motion through
11 Biomolecular Structure and Interactions
precise experiments may take years to construct and analyze. Before computers, our
theory also took years of calculation to determine a prediction to twelve decimal
places.
Quantum theory has been successfully applied to the smallest scale measured,
about one billionth of a nanometer (10 −18 m). Einstein’s General Relativity suggests
that at scales of 10 −35 m (the ‘Planck length’), quantum theory must be revised,
but such small separations cannot be observed with current instruments. Quantum
theory can be used to predict the motion of baseballs and planets, but the formalism
is more esoteric and less direct than Newton’s second law, and the wave interference
properties which are within quantum theory are practically unobservable for
objects the size of baseballs. When the wave diffraction and interference part of
quantum theory are reduced out, Newton’s laws emerge, making Newton’s laws a
macroscopic simplification of the more fundamental quantum theory, just like what
occurs when Maxwell’s electrodynamics are reduced to ray optics by taking a small
wavelength approximation.
Quantum theory explains atomic structure, chemical bonding, chemical reactions, spectral colors in absorption and emission, excitation states, and all other
properties and interactions of bodies at the nanoscale, including those in biological
systems. For example, the primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structure of
proteins, critical to behavior of enzymes, can be predicted by quantum theory. The
various kinds of interactions between molecules and ions within a cell are well
described by quantum theory.
Quantum effects are evident in the nature of atomic and molecular structure and
interactions. The field of Quantum Biology specializes in how quantum mechanics
is involved in chemical reactions, light absorption, electron excitations, and proton
transfers. Within quantum theory, such examples as the microscopic nature of
photosynthesis, vision, and DNA mutation by quantum tunneling can be understood.
11.2 Quantum Behavior of Matter
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see
the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die.
— Max Planck
Here are a number of important aspects of quantum theory:
1. In order to know about the outside world, we must interact with it. We see
by gathering light from the environment. This light is scattered or emitted
from objects at which we are looking. Atomic particles are so small in mass
that the act of observation disturbs the particle, making subsequent observation
dependent on the previous observation. This interaction between the observed
and the observer is built into quantum theory. Our thinking, however, may
be counter to this behavior. We think of bodies as having a motion through