Related papers: Energy from food
Many kinds of active particles, such as bacteria or active colloids, move in a thermostatted fluid by means of self-propulsion. Energy injected by such a non-equilibrium force is eventually dissipated as heat in the thermostat. Since…
Fundamentally, action potentials in the squid axon are consequence of the entrance of sodium ions during the depolarization of the rising phase of the spike mediated by the outflow of potassium ions during the hyperpolarization of the…
The output of a motor is work, while the output of a clock is information. Here it is discussed how a molecular motor can produce both, work and information, depending on the load. If the ratio of the backward and forward stepping rates of…
We provide evidence that the energy landscapes of folded proteins do not shift with temperature, but the onset of functional dynamics is associated with its effective sampling. The motion of the backbone is described by three distinct…
We compute the average work done by an external agent, driving a piston at constant speed, over a single particle gas going through an adiabatic compression and expansion process. To do so, we get the analytical expression relating the…
In genuine nonequilibrium systems that undergo continuous driving, the thermodynamic forces are nonconservative, meaning they cannot be described by any free energy potential. Nonetheless, we show that the dynamics of such systems are…
Recent experimental studies strongly suggest the influence of glial purinergic transmission in the modulation of synaptic dynamics. By releasing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which accumulates as adenosine, astrocytes tonically suppressed…
In some cases, it is possible to show the conservation of energy by using equations of motion in mechanics. By considering these results, some people can think that the conservation of energy is the result of equations of motion or Newton's…
Many mechanisms, functions and structures of life have been unraveled. However, the fundamental driving force that propelled chemical evolution and led to life has remained obscure. The 2nd law of thermodynamics, written as an equation of…
We explain the physical basis of a model for small globular proteins with water interactions. The water is supposed to access the protein interior in an "all-or-none" manner during the unfolding of the protein chain. As a consequence of…
In this study, variations with respect to temperature of the increments of enthalpy and Gibbs energy, arising in the dissolution of proteins in water, have been investigated by the methods of statistical thermodynamics. In this formalism,…
Mechanical characteristics of single biological cells are used to identify and possibly leverage interesting differences among cells or cell populations. Fluidity---hysteresivity normalized to the extremes of an elastic solid or a viscous…
Mechanical algesia is an important process for the preservation of living organisms, allowing potentially life-saving reflexes or decisions when given body parts are stressed. Yet, its various underlying mechanisms remain to be fully…
The temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity is taken into account to study the energy change in a capacitor that follows a cycle between a cold and a hot thermal reservoirs. There is a net energy gain in the process that, in…
Early recordings of nervous conduction revealed a notable thermal signature associated with the electrical signal. The observed production and subsequent absorption of heat arise from physicochemical processes that occur at the cell…
Cells use biochemical networks to translate environmental information into intracellular responses. These responses can be highly dynamic, but how the information is encoded in these dynamics remains poorly understood. Here we investigate…
We consider the problem of defining free energy and other thermodynamic functions when the entropy is given as a general function of the probablity distribution, including that for non extensive forms. We find that the free energy, which is…
We study alchemical atomic energy partitioning as a method to estimate atomisation energies from atomic contributions which are defined in physically rigorous and general ways through use of the uniform electron gas as a joint reference. We…
We study the energestics of a thermal motor driven by temperature differences, which consists of Brownian particles moving in a sawtooth potential with an external load where the viscous medium is alternately in contact with hot and cold…
The nonequilibrium thermodynamics feature of a Brownian motor operating between two different heat baths is explored as a function of time $t$. Using the Gibbs entropy and Schnakenberg microscopic stochastic approach, we find exact closed…