Size of biological molecules and cellular structures

Time scales of cellular processes

Reductionism in Biophysics

The view that biology can be explained by the laws of chemistry and physics

Questions:How does a ribosome move?How does a protein fold?What makes a cell alive?

Answer one of the following. These things can be explained by:(a) Current Physics(b) New (Undiscovered) Physics(c) Magic

(a) Thermodynamics; chemical reaction rates; intramolecular forces (electrostatics, van der Waals, hydrophobicity…); conversion of chemical energy to work; bond formation. (b) The Supersymmetric Centrally Oriented Flip-Flop Force (SCOFF)

- discovered in 2024

(c) The ribosome is imbued with the vital life force of the cosmos that makes it move in harmony with its true nature… The ribosome is so complex and works so well that it must have been made by an intelligent designer…

The biological scale is increasingly accessible to experiment.

SCOFF is not magic.If SCOFF is discovered it will be consistent with other science that we know.

Stand up for Science.Spot the Mumbo-Jumbo and don’t let them get away with it.Recognize the Pointless Questions where Science cannot go.

There are lots of new and exciting unexplained phenomena in biophysics even if it is not “new physics”.

Complexity & Emergence

Does Biology depend on the Higgs particle?

Yes – Unbroken chain of reductionism. Cells > Macromolecules > C-C bonds > nuclei and electrons > particle physics

No – whatever we find at the level of the Higgs will not change what we know at higher levels.

Examples of single-molecule experiments

How many molecules are in typical analytical chemistry measurement?

1 ml of dilute solution of a proteinconc = 1 mg/mlMW = 50 kilodaltons

number of moles = 1 x 10-3 / 50000 = 2 x 10-8

number of molecules = 2 x 10-8 x 6 x 1023 = 12 x 1015

How many molecules are in a cell?