What Is Biochemical Thermodynamics Meant For?
Posted by admin on November 25, 2009 under Thermodynamics | 
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I am a student of biotechnology. And in India, every engineering course in biotechnology comes with chemical engineering courses.
Right now, we have a biochemical thermodynamics course. I am thoroughly NOT sure what this course is about! It’s very abstract, the classes are a bore and it seems like we are going no where.
Can anyone please tell me what this course is meant for? What way can biochemical thrmodynamics be helpful to a stdnet of biotechnology?
Thanks for any help already! Please do answer!
Shankar said,
Thermodynamics is a fundamental physical theory that underlies the assembly of biomaterials and their biomechanical properties. Moreover, thermodynamics provides the quantitative basis of biological transport processes driven by diffusion and fluid flow. Thermodynamics is important for metabolic engineering, as all biochemical reactions in or bodies are governed by rate equations derived from the laws of thermodynamics. In addition, non-isothermal processes involved in bioinstrumentation, such as local heating by lasers and other optical methods, must be understood by using thermodynamics. At the cellular and molecular engineering level, the basic constituents of biological material, lipids and proteins, self-assembly. This self-assembly is governed by laws thermodynamics. Currently, there is great biotechnological interest in the self-assembly of nanoscale devices. The laws governing solute and mass transfer in artificial organs require thermodynamics. The constitutive equations used to model the mechanical behavior of novel biomaterials are derived from thermodynamics potential functions. The movement of molecules across cell membranes, which is essential to all life processes, is driven by a thermodynamic potential composed of concentration differences and electrical potential. Proteins can be modeled as biological machines and are constrained in their efficiency by thermodynamic relationships. The mitochondrion inside of cells is the energy powerhouse that produces ATP, the universal biological energy source.
~Robert M. Raphael
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